Prelude to Ruin
by Jangotat2
Summary: In the years leading up the fall of the Empire, many in the galaxy must struggle simply to survive. As members of this conflict are thrust together, they find unexpected allies, and old enemies. Mainly OC's, later appearance of Cannon Characters. AU. Rated T for violence and mild language.
1. Prologue: Rising Challengers

_A/N Alright, as I hope you're noticing, this is the first chapter, but not the same first chapter that was here before. I reviewed my work and how the styles changed over time and I felt like I needed to rewrite the first few chapters to fit the flow of the story better. I'm also partially doing this because of how busy I've been, I've lost sight of a few of my long term goals for this story. I still know where it's going to, I just need to refine it. I feel that the best way to do that is to rewrite this beginning chapters. Now I'd recommend rereading them as I update them, because there are changes, some of which are rather important to the later parts of the story. Thank you all for reading this story and please enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, or Star Wars, or any other piece of fiction or video game I may reference in this story.  
_

* * *

6 months before the Battle of Yavin and the events of Episode IV.

Outer edge of Corellia star system. 11:10 Coruscant time.

Boredom filled the conscious of the 23 year old man named Jason Kan. Traveling with a transport shuttle was hardly the most glorified way to depart one's homeworld and go join the freedom fighters known as the Rebel Alliance. But considering that two years ago he hadn't even been sure he'd be able to get off Corellia, this was a major breakthrough. His mind flashed back to the argument that had arose when he announced his intention:

_ "What?" His father asked. When he was angry his voice would always take on an icier tone that set Jason's blood on edge. His glare was enough to make Jason want to back down, even though he had at least two inches on his father's 5' 10" frame. "You want to go join some kriffing fools who are fighting the very organization that protected us from the CIS?" _

_ "The Empire's nothing like that anymore; they've twisted their words and become something worse than the CIS. We both know it." He shot back._

_ His father laughed scornfully, "I see there's no point in clarifying why this 'Rebel Alliance' is a foolish proposition. Let me say this. You will not be getting a single credit for this cause from me. And that's the last I'll speak on the matter." _

Jason had always been close to conflict with his father; things had only become worse after his mother had vanished. Briefly closing his brown eyes, he ran a hand over his face and through his lengthy dark brown hair. He still missed his mother. She had been an idealist, much like him. She would've tried to convince his father that the Rebellion, and Jason, had a point. But his father saw those ideals as the reason that she had been taken. He felt a pang of regret when he realized that his father may have just been trying to keep him from disappearing the same way his mother did.

Letting out a slow breath, he brought his mind back to his current situation. He had received word a few weeks ago that the Rebellion was looking for potential new recruits on Bothawui. He had finally saved up enough credits to pay for both the transportation and his own blaster pistol. Hopefully the Rebellion would be able to get him something better, but he felt like he should be prepared; just in case things went wrong and he had to try and avoid some Imperials. Exhaling slowly one last time, the hopeful Rebel finally let sleep overtake him.

* * *

Bothawui, 13:45 Coruscant time. Two days later.

Jason walked carefully through the crowd. His plain colored clothes helped him fit into the blended crowd of Bothans, Humans, and other Aliens. He had his two heavier suitcases back in his recently rented apartment. He still had his backpack slung over his shoulder. His gaze flittered over towards his right. A pair of stormtroopers was standing by an alleyway, their eyes obscured by their white helmets. Jason quickly brought his gaze forward again, trying to prevent drawing unwanted attention. His boots slopped through a small puddle of water. A few Bothans were engaged in a heated debate with hushed tones, with one of the Bothans glancing back at the stormtroopers more than once. A few distant clouds began to gather in the south.

He noticed a nearby cantina. Part of him was attracted to the seediness of the building, but part of him was wary of what would become of his money. He was uneasy, wondering where these Rebel contacts were supposed to be. Suddenly a commotion from the cantina drew his attention. A Bothan was thrown out of the cantina, followed closely by two stormtroopers. Another pair of stormtroopers was holding a young red haired girl by her arms. An Imperial officer stepped out, followed by a final pair of stormtroopers. The Bothan struggled to recover his footing and took a swing at one of the stormtroopers. The stormtrooper dodged the Bothan's wild swing, and punched him in the stomach. The final pair of stormtroopers came up behind the Bothan and grabbed him by the arms.

"You won't get away with this." The Bothan shouted, "Mark my words, you'll regret trying to take the pair of us."

The officer snorted, his soft face contorting into an arrogant smirk. "We'll see about that, Rebel scum. I think it's time we made an example of what happens to traitors."

The trio of stormtroopers forced the Bothan to a kneeling position. Jason's heart rate had kicked into overdrive. The two captured Rebels were all his attention could focus on. His hand brushed the handle of his blaster pistol. He was unsure of what to do, but his debate was cut short when the third stormtrooper began aiming his rifle at the Bothan.

"No." The girl shouted. The stormtrooper ignored her and flicked off the safety.

The officer's face contorted even more than Jason thought possible with savage pleasure. "On my order, end this vermin's life. I want the girl alive, for a little at least."

Jason decided he couldn't wait to make up his mind. Drawing his blaster pistol as fast as he could, he squeezed the trigger three times. The first shot went wide, burning a hole into the top of the doorway. The second shot hit the would-be-executioner in the hand, burning through the stormtrooper's hand and melting the grip of the blaster rifle into slag. The third shot slammed into one of the Imperial's chest where the plates connected, ending his life and releasing the Bothan's right arm. The Bothan took advantage of this and tore his arm out of the wounded soldier's grasp. The Bothan quickly flipped the second stormtrooper onto the ground. The alien swiftly grabbed the deceased stormtrooper's rifle from the ground where it lay, before firing a blast into another stormtrooper.

Jason quickly processed the new situation. Two stormtroopers were dead, and the third was missing a hand and his rifle. That left one dazed stormtrooper on the ground and the second two who were holding the girl, and the officer was standing behind them. The Bothan fired a round into the stormtrooper on the ground, before rolling out of the way as the officer's pistol spewed energy bolts at him. The wounded stormtrooper pulled out his blaster pistol before jerking suddenly. A thunderous report echoed throughout the surrounding buildings as a ballistic sniper round tore through the stormtrooper's throat. The Bothan diverted fire onto the two remaining stormtroopers, who had dropped the girl. Jason joined in the Bothan's attack. The two soldiers dove behind the nearest cover they could find, a stack of crates. By now the civilians were fleeing from the firefight. Off in the distance more blaster fire could be heard.

"Stop!" a voice commanded. The firing complied as both Imperials and Rebels looked at the source of the order. The officer had his arm snaked around the girl's throat and his pistol aimed at her head. "Lay your weapons down or I will blow her head off."

Jason froze, trying to figure out how to work around this; meanwhile the Bothan put his rifle on the ground, motioning for Jason to do the same. The Bothan winked at Jason and again motioned for him to put the gun down. Jason finally complied. "Good." The officer's voice still contained a faint trace of worry. "Now tell your sniper friend it's the same deal."

"Why don't you tell him yourself?" a deep voice questioned. A large man walked out from a building to Jason's right. The man looked nothing like a sniper; his body seemed built as a human tank. His medium cut brown hair didn't past his ears. Cobalt eyes locked onto the Imperial officer's. The man tossed a ballistic sniper rifle to the ground.

"Good, good." The officer's voice seemed to regain some of its composure. "Now come with me peacefully and…"

The officer never got to finish his statement as a second thunderous report sounded and the officer's hand vanished. The large man pulled out two massive DT-75 pistols and fired both of them once. The twin bolts of energy slammed into the Stormtroopers before they could recover. As the officer stared at the bloody remains of his hand in horror, the girl head-butted him and used his arm to throw him over her and onto the ground. The officer was still blinking when the massive man stood over him, "For the record, I'm terrible with a sniper rifle."

The Bothan quickly scooped up the ballistic sniper with an expression of pure joy. The girl shook her head. A voice sounded behind Jason, causing him to jump slightly. "All neutralized." The man spoke with a deep accent of some kind that Jason couldn't place, definitely not from one of the core worlds. Light blond hair was cut in a decidedly military fashion and green eyes that seemed to speak the testimony of unspeakable horrors. The Bothan walked back over and aimed his blaster at the officer, his canine features curling into a snarl.

Large hands forced the rifle down and the man shook his head, "That's not how we do things." He then turned his attention to Jason, "Hey kid, come with us."

Jason complied, albeit slightly hesitantly. As they walked away hey could hear the officer cursing them, "This is not the last you've seen of me! I'll get you; I'll get my revenge you rebel vermin! I will exterminate you all."

The officer stopped yelling when he saw the sniper, clad in light black formfitting armor, walking back towards him. Stumbling up to his feet, while trying to ignore the burning pain from what was left of his hand, he glared at the sniper. "That's right, you can't escape the Empire. We will stop you terrorists."

The sniper's eyes were so cold that it sent an unconscious shiver down the officer's spine. His voice still had the deep accent, but his voice had taken a dangerous edge to it. Jerking a thumb towards the retreating rebels, he spoke, "They might believe because we're the good guys that we have to do the morally right thing. I've seen more, I know better. When you fight for your existence and for the freedom of those you care about, you need to do some things that aren't morally right. They haven't grasped that yet. I was trained in that concept. One more sin isn't going to make me hate myself any more than I do now."

The officer's eyes went wide when the sniper pulled out a long barreled pistol. Before he could reply a soft report sounded and a bullet ended his life.

Jason never heard the muffled gunshot over the chaos that had broken out throughout the city. It was a valiant effort, but a vain one. The Bothans who had decided to assault the Imperials were hopelessly outnumbered. By the time the main contingencies of the Imperial forces arrived, the rebelious Bothans would have disappeared once more into the city. While they were walking, the blond human caught up. Giving a slight cough, he glanced pointedly at the larger man. The brown haired man got the point rather quickly. "So what's your name kid?"

"Jason. It's nice to meet you…" he trailed off, realizing he didn't know the man's name.

"Keith" the large man supplied, "The gloomy Bothan over there is Sorn, the red-head is Gabby, and the blond with the accent and the accuracy is Jack."

Each one had a different reaction to their introduction: Sorn glared at Keith for his introduction, Gabby waved cheerfully to Jason, and Jack just gave him a nod of acknowledgment. The four of them continued walking as Keith began talking. "I'm going to guess that you weren't just coincidently in the area, were you?"

Jason shook his head, "No I was trying to find the recruiting for the Rebel Alliance."

Keith let out a hearty laugh, "well you found us. Though I prefer the alliance to restore republic as our name, we're stuck with being seen as the rebels I suppose."

Gabby shook her head, "Well it could be worse. At least we're not called the 'terrorist alliance' or something like that."

Keith looked at her, "Remind me never to ask you to name something. Ever. So kid, I'm guessing that you wanted to join up then?"

Jason nodded his head. "But I don't have a ship and the only weapon I have is this blaster pistol." He stated, gesturing at the older modeled blaster.

Sorn glanced at him, his fur still bristling from the near death experience "You're a pretty good shot for having an outdated gun. I say we keep him. He might make a good secondary sniper. But he can't have my gun."

"We got it Sorn," Jack replied, rolling his light green eyes "No one messes with your gun."

As the four of them continued walking, they reached an outdoor hangar. There was a small guard's station that briefly challenged Keith, who promptly displayed his id. After that, Keith turned back to Jason. "Now that you know where we are, go get the rest of your supplies and meet us here. The _Shalom _will be waiting. Once we depart I'm going to have to bring you up to speed on what's going on and you'll have to share a few little things with us. Got it?"

Jason nodded, "I'll be back within half an hour." And he hurried off, eager to start his new life with the Rebel Alliance and finally strike out against the Empire. A smile grew across his face as he felt the cool shade of nearby clouds blot out the sun.

* * *

In orbit above Felucia: 15:35 Coruscant time. The same day.

Commander Ryan Mendez stood on the bridge of the _Cobra_, his personal _Imperial-_class Star Destroyer. He wished there was something that made it his, but there really wasn't. It was just another Star Destroyer of the Imperial fleet, with the same bland grey/white coloring as every other type of Imperial ship. But this was far from his focus as he stood, watching the reports of the ground battle come in. Another AT-AT had been destroyed, a platoon of stormtroopers had been pinned down after taking a Rebel trench, the lead groups of Self-Propelled Medium Artillery-Turbolasers were finally in range. The reports filtered in, one after another, each one fighting for his attention. _This _shabla _mission is just costing us too much_, he shook his head. For some reason the higher ups in the chain of command wanted this base left intact, which ruled out orbital bombardment. However by this point all he wanted to know was how intact they wanted it, or if he could just level a large segment of it. It could also be a ruse to try and make him look bad.

Ryan was well aware of the fact that he had enemies within the Empire. Some were jealous, Ryan seemed to be only 28, yet was one of the best commanders the Empire had seen in a while. His actual age and name however, was not what the Empire believed. He wondered briefly if there were those in the Empire who had suspicions that he was not entirely honest about his age or name. He had no way of knowing for sure, but until the right time came, he was to remain Ryan Mendez of 28 years. Running a hand through his short cut hair, Ryan brought his attention back to the battle.

"Sir, a group of rebel transports under light escort are trying to escape the planet." One of his officers reported. Overall they were a trustworthy group of people; however many had psychological scars from battles they had been present in before their time with Ryan. Some had been pulled into the vacuum of space with little more than a light space suit on and less than half an hour of air. If they hadn't been found when they were, they would have been dead.

"Send the _Bombard_ and _Candaserri _to deal with them." Was his reply. The feed continued on before his attention was diverted by his XO, Lieutenant Commander Mac Gordon.

"Commander Mendez, two transmissions are coming in. One from a field commander on the ground, the other…" he trailed off, his dark eyes hardening slightly, "Well I think you need to take it in a different area."

"Send them to the comm. suite. I'll address them there." Ryan said, already striding towards the afore mentioned room. He walked in quickly and prepared to activate the first call, deciding the second could wait a little longer. His choice was taken when the hologram of a man in his 40s appeared. General Tarz was best known for his proficiency in putting down land rebellions swiftly and without care for who was caught in the crossfire. His methods were ruthless and his results marvelous. He was in command of an Imperial fleet, even though he was a ground commander first. Ryan hated the man, but procedure had to be followed. Snapping to attention he greeted the General, "General Tarz, Commander Mendez, R.K. reporting."

"Good. Commander Mendez, I need you to report to Thyferra to help me put down a rebellion. Only bring the _Cobra_. Leave the rest of your fleet there to ensure the Rebels do not escape." Tarz's frosty voice came through the hologram, speaking at just enough of a rapid pace that Ryan did not have a chance to reply. "Be here within the next two days. Tarz out."

Ryan blinked and let out a sigh. "You're so upbeat aren't you? Though I will admit, for a _Di'kut_ you're not half that bad at figuring stuff out." He reached for the other incoming message.

* * *

On Felucia, 15:30 Coruscant time.

Zeth dodged a wild blaster shot as it slammed into a nearby fungus tree. To say he wasn't fond of this place would be an understatement. He hated this place beyond belief. Before he was a sergeant in the Empire's forces, he had been a commando. His last mission had taken him here. This planet had taken two of his brothers away. He would never forgive it for that. Allowing his aggravation to give him focus, Zeth peered over cover and fired off a couple of blaster shots, watching in grim satisfaction as it snuffed out a Rebel's life.

Firing his rifle in bursts, he surveyed the situation. The Rebels had a height advantage, as they had built their on a hill. Trenches were dug from the base of the hill up, with turrets designed for killing infantry set up along the way. At the top of the hill were several captured turbolaser batteries that were devastating any mechanized forces that the Imperials were able to employ. After a few brutal minutes of fighting they had been able to break the Rebel's front line and begin using some of their trenches against them. The problem was it would be another few minutes until the SPMA-Ts arrived. Their sole advantage to this situation lay in the fact that an All-Terrain Armored Transport was breaking its way through the peculiar foliage and was prepared to give them fire support. The massive four legged walker smashing the remaining walls of the Rebel's frontline as it advanced.

Snipers on both sides were picking soldiers off as they left their cover. All around him Zeth could hear the screams of people dying. He glanced to his left just in time to see a rocket explode next to a stormtrooper, the man's final cry piercing through his mind. As the helmet rolled off, Zeth saw his own face looking back at him. It was times like this that he remembered how few clones from the clone wars were really left. Another brutal minute of fighting passed, with neither side gaining an advantage on the other. The SPMA-Ts were still out of range and the AT-AT was still combating the foliage as well. Peering around his cover, Zeth fired off another burst. Another armored figure hit the wall next to him. "_Copaani gaan _Zeth?"

Zeth glanced over at the new arrival. "Iviin, good to see you again."

The second clone laughed. "Well I wasn't in much of a rush, figured you had this handled."

"You? Slow? _Nuh'la_." Was Zeth's reply as he leaned back behind cover. "Any word from the _al'verde_?"

Iviin shook his head, "None. Some s_habuir _is probably still telling him that he can't just bombard the _aru'e_ from orbit. Probably trying to make us all look bad by doing it."

Zeth shook his head, "No one makes the _al'verde _look bad. He's pulled off every mission so far."

"_Gar serim_." Iviin replied. "This one's a little difficult however. I still hate this _dar'yaim_. Think we'll…?"

"_Nayc_." Zeth cut him off. "They decided to pull a _Ba'slan shev'la_. We won't see them as long as they don't want us to."

Iviin nodded slowly, "yea." Whatever he was about say was interrupted as one of the turbolaser towers opened fire and destroyed the cockpit of the AT-AT. "_Haar'chak" _Iviin muttered.

"Sergeant Zeth." A transmission came over Zeth's helmet. "The SPMA-Ts are in range. Use your target locator to pinpoint those blasted Turbolasers."

Zeth wasted no time in following out the orders. "_Hukaat'kama_" he shouted back to Iviin. The former commando held his hand out and Zeth provided him his blaster. Iviin propped himself on the rock and began firing both his blasters with pinpoint accuracy, dropping the rebel forces as they tried to advance. A few artillery shells hit nearby. Another group of rebels charged with a war cry. Yells and screams filled the air with corresponding blaster shots. For Zeth everything existed for a moment, then faded away. There was only one thing in his conscious now, the turbolaser tower that had ravaged the AT-AT so easily. Lining up the locator he held down the activator as it began to scan the target. As soon as it uploaded the coordinates and schematics, the SPMA-Ts fulfilled their duties and fired a volley of laser shots towards the turbolaser tower. The defensive structure fell as well as the nearby AA cannon. As the Rebels scrambled to recover from this loss, a flight of TIE bomber zoomed overhead and dropped their payload on the Rebels' frontline. Explosions tore up the hill sending dirt and rebels flying in several directions.

A flight of ARC-170 starfighters dove from above the clouds. Their laser cannons blazed away as they tore apart the unsuspecting TIE bombers. The fighters continued to fire their lasers and blast apart Stormtrooper platoons before firing their torpedoes at the SPMA-Ts, destroying several of them. The two clones stared at the blazing area around them. In frustration Zeth grabbed his rifle from Iviin and began firing at the approaching rebels, simultaneously signaling the remaining forces to fall back. They needed to get in range of those AT-AAs if they wanted a chance of winning. A captain ran over to him, "Sergeant, contact the Commander, tell him our situation." Zeth nodded, part of him still surprised that so much had happened in the span of several minutes.

* * *

In orbit above Felucia, 15:36 Coruscant time.

Ryan looked at the armored stormtrooper that appeared before him. "Sergeant Zeth, what's the status."

The stormtrooper shook his head. "Real bad sir. I don't know how long we can hold off without an orbital bombardment or severe reinforcements."

Ryan looked at the clone, "Well you don't have to hold off much longer. Tell Captain Davis we're pulling out of there as soon as possible. General Tarz has requested our assistance elsewhere, and it overrides this mission."

"Affirmative sir. We'll begin pulling out immediately; expect us to be returning shortly."

After Ryan gave some specific instructions for Zeth's ears alone, he walked back to the bridge. "Listen up. We're leaving this place. However the rebels aren't cleared out anywhere near what I'd like. Here's the plan; in order to ensure that our men get off this _dar'yaim_, we're going to bombard the base from orbit. We'll leave the command center intact so we can get the information, as the admiral wanted. Let's just hope he didn't want anything else. Not one more of our men die here. Begin the bombardment as soon as our ships are in range. We'll meet Tarz within his two day limit, but we'll do it our way instead of his."

As the _Cobra_ and her four escorting _Victory_-class Star Destroyers closed in on the base's coordinates, the imperial ground forces began their retreat. The Rebels cheers of victory were cut short as dozens of long range turbolaser shots burned through the atmosphere and ravaged their base. Segments were turned to glass as buildings toppled. The retreating Imperials watched the devastation unfold. Throughout it all not a single turbolaser shot hit the command center. After the bombardment, Zeth and Iviin infiltrated the command center, neutralizing the guards and securing any data they could find. Shortly after they exfoliated and removed any guards that got in their way, they boarded the last Imperial transport to leave. After they departed the _Cobra_'s long range batteries proceeded to target and destroy the rebel command center, leaving nothing but flames and rubble for the surviving Rebels to hold onto.

Ryan allowed himself a sad smile of victory as the _Cobra_ began leaving orbit. He was worried about the amount of supplies the Rebels had had here. He hadn't been forced to resort to an orbital bombardment in a long time. Something had been there, something he hoped he hadn't missed. Shrugging off the doubt, Ryan checked his personal communicator to see a short message from his twin.

**Tarz is onto us. I expect this next meeting is a trap. Be careful**

~_**Hunter**_

Ryan sighed. He shared similar suspicions with his twin. Only time would tell if they were correct or not. He hoped they weren't. He needed a little more time inside of the empire to complete his goal. Breathing in softly, Ryan began walking back to his quarters; leaving the thoughts of the burning rebel base safely behind him.

* * *

Felucia. 1620 Coruscant time.

Unbeknownst to the Rebels forces as they tried to figure out what to do next, or to the Imperial Commander as he set off to quell the next rebellion, deep underneath the ruins of the Rebel base, something stirred. Something ancient and dark that had been kept hidden from the galaxy for far too long. That something began to search for a way out, and a way to begin its mission anew.

* * *

_(1/26/2013)A/N_ _As I said, some things are different, some are the same. Things will be progressing a little differently. For anyone who has just started reading, I'd recommend waiting for the updated version of the next chapter, however if I take longer than a week disregard that and read on. The changes will be primarily minor things, and a few major things, but sometimes those things are what makes the biggest difference in the long run.  
_  
_ Additionally for a list of every single Mandalorian word translated that I'll ever use: wiki/Mando%27a That is where I'll be pulling Mando'a from. I try to space out the words so you can infer them, but if you have trouble for some reason there's the link._

_Please Review, they do inspire me. and constructive criticism does help me as well. I want to do my own original work so anything I learn now will help me later.  
_

_Until Later,  
~Jangotat2  
Live Fast, Die Never.  
_


	2. Chapter 1:Consequences

Asteroid field near Mustafar 8:07 Coruscant time

Jocane slowly stood and paced around his cabin of the _Final Justice_, he was waiting for a transmission from his leader, who was also the source of Jocane's Intel. His gold eyes swept around the cabin, his fingers clacked against his scales, creating noise like armor being knocked on.

"You know pacing won't make him hurry up." Jocane spun towards the voice; it was coming from a figure clad in armor made of Mandalorian iron. The face of the person was eerily similar to Jango Fett's

"I never realized that," Jocane replied sarcastically to the Mandalorian, who was called Kull.

"Yeah, you Kaleesh aren't exactly good for realizing that kind of stuff," Kull replied, "Especially ones that are almost eight feet tall."

"So now you can be insulted for being tall?" Jocane asked unable to come up with a retort fast enough.

"Well, you know us Mandos."

"Yes, skilled, but mentally unstable, warriors."

"Sure are," Kull said. They lapsed into uneasy silence, both being worried about their friend. Thoughts such as; _what if they found out, and then interrogate him? Will he crack and tell? _went through their minds. Jocane was really worried. Then after what seemed an eternity the comlink beeped.

"Jocane, here."

An exhausted voice came over, "we just got done on Thyferra, and, well, we ran into a bit of trouble, and Ryan shot a general."

"Are you serious?" Jocane was amazed, them instantly nervous, "did he figure us out?"

"Yeah, unfortunately, but if he hadn't been shot it could have been worse."

"Great so now what?" Jocane was once again thinking of some of the worst possibilities, or maybe they were the most realistic possibilities, "Will they try to kill Ryan?"

"They might try," Hunter responded smugly, "Well that's all for now, I'll give you an update later. Hunter out."

Jocane turned to Kull and saw his expression as it would have been on a human. The main reason this establishment, as Jocane liked to think of it, rather than a crime group, had done so well was because of the information Ryan and Hunter gave them. He also wondered why Hunter had seemed in such a rush. "Your buddy Ryan got himself in trouble to save us."

"Yeah, I heard," Kull stared off for a minute, "poor _ad'ika_ he always catches the tail end of something."

Jocane stared at Kull for a minute; this was the first time he had openly showed that he thought of Ryan as his younger brother, or younger comrade. But then Mandalorian were common adopters, and Kull sort of acted as Ryan's guardian in this universe, though he probably didn't need any protection. "Come on Kull, you softie let's get to the bridge."

Once at the bridge Jocane glanced at the holomap, it showed the _Providence_-class destroyer they were in, it was surrounded by three others of its kind, two Trade Federation Battleships, five _Recusant_-class frigates, and a few dozen smaller ships. Also there was the Droid Control ship that kept their droid crews and fighters running faster than they would normally, finally there was the space station that was integrated in to an asteroid. The majority of the other ships were guarding their other areas of influences on planets, most of which didn't have space stations. Then Jocane's mind slipped back to the events unfolding with Ryan, Hunter might have been overconfident in Ryan's abilities, but the tone of his voice had sounded had given the impression that they had something planed. Jocane didn't know whether to be excited or nervous about that impression, Hunter's plans weren't always the most sound.

Jocane then nodded to the Helmsman, a Trandoshan named Nossh, to jump into Hyperspace. Soon they were on their way to another outpost. All the way there Jocane wondered what was about to happen to Ryan.

* * *

Dantooine, rebel base 12:00 Coruscant time

Jason stared at the forest planet below, then glanced at two Mon Calamari-75 star cruisers in high orbit above the planet, the once Mon Cal luxury cruisers were now fully armed and working together could take on even the new _Imperial_-class Star Destroyers. There were also a few Corellian corvettes escorting them. Then a transmission came from one of the Mon Cal ships.

"State your purpose here." The speaker was a Mon Calamarian, proven by that gravelly voice. And then the MC-75s started turning towards them and a few Y-wings and other fighters deployed.

Jason leapt up and consequently hit his head on the top of the Cockpit, and then Keith sent a transmission to him, "Relax kid I got us covered, yeah we have a couple of biggies guarding here."

"Now he tells me," Jason muttered, "After I almost freaked out."

Obviously Keith had them covered near perfectly because the Mon Cal ship turned around and the fighters backed down, "Follow me Jason," was Keith's only comment. They slowly descended on the atmosphere on Dantooine, and then finally a beacon appeared on his navicomputer. There they landed on the landing pad, Jason a little ways off on a different pad. He then walked over to Keith

"Is this your main base?" asked Jason "because it's kind of small."

"Well we don't make many big bases, mainly just small cells, so this is a biggie, but we're planning to leave here in a little while," responded Keith "we don't exactly have the Empires resources now do we."

"I guess not," stated Jason.

"Well kid, follow me to the hanger and we will get you fixed up with a decent ship," Keith said. Jason then wondered once again why Keith called him kid, _maybe it's because I'm not very experienced, or maybe I have to prove myself_. Then Jason remembered Sorn and wondered where he had gotten to, as if on cue Sorn then rounded the corner with some other people in tow. There was a human with blond hair, he looked as if he was more apt at being an assassin than anything else, and another human with red hair, also there was a Sullastan in a flight suit, next to him were a Wookie, another human with brown hair and a Rodian. The Wookie quickly pulled Keith into a bear hug roaring something. Sorn then made his way over to Jason.

"This is our little group of infiltrators; the human over there is Jack, the human with the red hair is Gunro, the other one with the brown hair is Cole, the Rodian is Drailix, the Sullastan is Xien Xuv, and the Wookie is Zaalras, and of course you know me." Sorn said.

"Yeah, thanks for the information." Jason replied uneasily.

Then Keith walked over, shaking his head and saying, "sorry Jason the ship will have to wait, we have to set up a cell on Jabiim, right under an imperial commander's nose."

One week after the events on Thyferra. Cardia, Imperial base 8:00 Coruscant time

"Commander Mendez."

Ryan looked up from his holozine. There stood Lieutenant Gordon. "Yes?"

"The Admiral will now see you sir." Gordon had a nervous look on his face, he lowered his voice, "and I think the _chakaar_ General Tarz is there as well. Good bye for now sir, and good luck."

"Thank you Lieutenant, until later then." As Ryan walked towards the blast doors he reflected on how Gordon had used a Mandalorian word, so obviously he had left his mark on his crew, probably as a Mandalorian tactician. The dual layers of blast doors separated, and there was Admiral Gallarat, one of the Imperial admirals assigned to deal with rebels at the time, standing next to him was one of the stormtroopers from Thyferra, and on his other side was, General Tarz, who yet again was smiling, this time an icy 'I've won' kind of smile.

"So Commander," began Gallarat, "why did you shoot Tarz?"

"He was rounding up unarmed civilians and teenagers, and was going to have them murdered." Ryan replied with an emotionless stare, he really didn't care what happened next and if worst came to worst; he had his daggers in his pockets and his holdout blaster in one sleeve, and to top it all of a short blade in his other sleeve.

"Is that the only reason? That he was going to kill civilians or is there another reason."

"Isn't that enough?" Ryan responded.

"Ahem, um Admiral if I may," Tarz requested, at Gallarat's nod Tarz continued, "like I said earlier I have proof that the commander here had dealings with a criminal organization. So I think he should be executed."

Ryan wasn't that surprised, he knew that Tarz disliked him but this was a little extreme, normally Tarz would just have let it play out. But Ryan decided not to say anything.

"Well I've told the Moffs about this, and they want the Commander expelled from the Imperial Navy." Gallarat said. This comment made Ryan a little more nervous; the Moffs were under the Emperor's control, for the most part, and he wasn't one to just let an Imperial commander go with any level of intelligence on the Empire. "So Commander we've decided you can ask any of your crew to come with you, and we'll supply you with the correct amount of shuttles. In half an hour we will pick you up, and any who want to come with you."

Ryan sort of stumbled out of the conference room; he then pulled out his comlink, keying in the code for his Star Destroyer. "It's been a pleasure, but I'm being forced out, if there are any who have decided to leave, you can leave with me."

Within five minutes he had eight calls, three were people or groups of troops accepting his offer. The other three were declines, then he got the seventh call, it was from Zeth. "Commander, I'm sorry but my brothers and I have decided to stay, I… I'll miss you Ryan, hope to see you soon." It was obvious that Zeth wasn't used to being open to an Imperial commander, even an ex-commander, especially from Zeth's semi salute he offered.

"Goodbye Zeth it has been a pleasure, tell your _vode_ that I'll miss them too. " Ryan snapped a salute in return to Zeth and turned off the view screen for a minute. Then he answered the other call. It was Gordon.

"Ryan I'm staying, I don't really trust this, not you but the offer in particular." Gordon stated. Ryan snapped a glance at the frequency; fortunately Gordon had secured it almost completely. "I think the Emperor is trying to make sure that you don't leave any influence, and that there aren't any loose ends if you know what I mean."

Ryan nodded, he thought almost exactly the same, "Well Gordon it's been a pleasure, I hope you make it to captain like you were hoping, goodbye."

A short while later, Ryan and the hundred others who had decided to come with him were boarding the ten imperial shuttles Ryan was in his Skipray Blastboat. The shuttles took off heading for space; Ryan did a quick glance out the viewport and saw the other then shuttles following him. Then the copilot, Josh, tapped him on the shoulder. "Um, Ryan there is a Star Destroyer, reading the _Dark_ _Blade_, and they are hailing us."

Ryan's blood froze over; the _Dark_ _Blade _was Tarz's personal Star destroyer. He looked out the viewport, there were also four _Acclamator II_-class assault ships, three V_ictory_-class Star Destroyers, two _Imperial-_Star Destroyers including the _Dark_ _Blade_, and nearby was a gravity well station, which stopped any hope of escape into hyperspace. "Open the channel, and patch it to the other shuttles, they need to know what's going on."

"So Ryan, you thought you could escape that easy, well I'm here to prove otherwise." Tarz said once the channel was open.

"I should have known better I guess." Ryan responded coolly, "Tarz let the other shuttles go I'm in the Skipray."

"How about not, it's over Ryan, any last words, pleas for mercy, etc."

"You wish Tarz, but I don't think so _di'kut_." Ryan said trying, unsuccessfully, to keep his temper in check, due to the fact that all it could do now was get him killed faster.

"Oh well I might have made it easier on you and whoever is coming with you. All ships launch all TIEs, and prepare to fire. Goodbye Ryan."

"Not so fast _chakaar_!" yelled a voice over the comm., "not if my friends and I have something to say about it." Even as the last comment died on the comm. a fleet came out, which consisted of 3 _Hammerhead_ Light Cruisers from 4,000 years ago, five Republic Dreadnoughts, one of the Republics' biggest pre-clone wars ships, two _Providence_-class destroyers, and a Trade Federation Battleship.

\ \ \

Space above Cardia 8:45 Coruscant time

Hunter, as he stood on the bridge of the _Stalker_, the Trade Federation Battleship, stared at the opposing fleet, he normally seemed carefree, but he knew this battle was going to be tough, especially because of the Star Destroyers. "All Hammerheads open up with heavy turbolasers."

The Hammerheads opened fire with the modified heavy turbolasers battery, but instead of the normal double shots of a heavy turbolaser, one from each turbolaser battery barrel, three came from each barrel, and seeing as each Hammerhead cruiser had four double barrel heavy turbolasers it was 24 shots from each ship. This opening salvo of 72 heavy turbolaser shots cut through the space and impacted on the closest Victory destroyer. Tarz was obviously expecting these ships to only have the normal armament, seeing as the Victory's shields had been diverted to firepower, _which _Hunter thought, _is stupid. _The majority of shots hit the Victory's main hull, but a few bursts hit the Victory right in the bridge, crippling the ship causing it to spin out of control. The Victory then rammed into one of the Acclamators, and the destroyer weighed almost twice as much as the Acclamator, both ships exploded, destroying all the surrounding TIE fighters.

"Providences fire at will," Hunter directed, "Dreadnoughts move forward and take out those _Victory-_star destroyers." Hunter then turned to his crew, "Jam their communications, and their radar, and launch all fighters, including droid fighters."

The battle was far from one sided however as one of the Imperial star destroyers charged in an obvious attempt to help the smaller ships. The five dreadnoughts formed a triangle and charged like a spear at the star destroyer, the three remaining Acclamators had formed up and were focusing fire at one of the providences, but even the newer version of the old Clone wars ships were no match for a capital ship older than it. The _Providence_-destroyers had launched the many droid starfighters they had and were pounding one Acclamator, the Acclamator never stood a chance for the onslaught of lasers and torpedoes punctured the shield in no time and tore the ship into pieces. Meanwhile the Dreadnoughts were making Swiss cheese out of one of the Victory's, and had blown their way through the other.

Then Hunter saw something he hadn't expected. The Star Destroyer was firing point blank range into two of the Hammerhead cruisers pounding them relentlessly for a moment Hunter was worried that the Destroyer would tear right through the hammerheads and try to reach the rear of his fleet, until he saw what it was trying to do, it was trying to escape. Suddenly one of the Hammerheads blew up, the other one managed to focus all power to shields. The few actually living pirates in starfighters were jinxing out in the battlefield, and doing as much damage to the army of TIEs as possible. Hunter could almost hear their shouts of triumph and cries for vengeance, and he wished that he was a pilot again.

"Captain, take us point blank to that destroyer, and remember tell the gunners to aim right at the destroyer's superstructure." Hunter ordered with a smirk he added, "Let's see how much this thing can take."

In a minute the _Stalker _was right next to the Star Destroyer, the space in between them was filled with fire, nonstop death. Each ship was taking damage, but by then the Providences had finished the Acclamators and were assisting the _Stalker_. The Star Destroyer was taking heavy damage from the three hostile capital ships. Multiple turbolaser batteries had been destroyed; the bridge's deflector shields were the only shields left. Suddenly the gravity well station was vaporized by the dreadnoughts, and before the Destroyer was terminated it entered hyperspace.

Hunter nodded to the comm. Crew telling them to deactivate the jamming. "Hunter to

Captain Zalngar, I want you to welcome Tarz to the frontline."

\ \ \

Tarz stared at the remains of his task force, the shuttles had gotten away, but the pirate fleet hadn't. The Hammerhead cruisers had destroyed a Victory star destroyer in less than a minute; these pirates must have had more funding than normal ones.

"Sir, incoming!" one of the officers barked, the five Dreadnoughts had all shot white beams, which almost instantly hit the _Dark Blade_.

"All weapons are offline." One officer reported.

"The jamming is gone and we have the secondary comm. Tower online." Another reported.

"Send off a transmission to base now!" Tarz ordered _I should have just killed Ryan then instead of taunting him_. But it was too late now, hindsight was supposed to be helpful, but Tarz knew it wouldn't help him much longer.

"Sir, incoming transmission from the Skipray."

"Put it on." Tarz said wearily.

"Did you honestly think it would be that easy?" Ryan asked Tarz, almost mockingly copying him.

"Possibly, and I am not going to listen to you gloat."

"You could come with us." Ryan said as if in a halfhearted attempt to save a lost person.

"Never, you scum I would rather die than come with you!" Tarz spat still he had to resist the urge to accept.

"OK, I guess I'll just be on my way now." Even as Ryan finished talking the pirate ships began leaping into hyperspace. Tarz knew this would be a major embarrassment, but he could always regain his pride, what crushed him the most was that he now knew that Ryan had probably slipped out of his grasp forever. Then he wondered why Ryan had given him a second chance. Shaking away his wonder he swore that next time he met Ryan, he would suffer dearly for this.

* * *

_**A/N I hope this chapter was good. Reviews are welcome.**_


	3. Chapter 2: Setting the playing field

Two days later, Corulag 19:07 Coruscant time

Zeth stood at parade rest as General Tarz paced, it was amazing after what happened above Cardia that Tarz was still a general, and alive, but Zeth didn't say anything. Tarz didn't look happy, but he had just suffered a defeat. "Zeth, I have a new task for you," began Tarz, "I'm to give you three other stormtroopers and you are to form them into a special operation squad."

"Yes sir." Zeth responded, "But sir can I have a former commando from my original squad with me?"

Tarz nodded, "I want you and him to train the other two. Your missions will consist of anything from leading forces into battle or commando missions, though mainly the later."

"Yes, sir, I will start as soon as possible." Replied Zeth. As he walked out he noticed Tarz answering a transmission from Gallarat, who did not look happy at all. Smirking Zeth walked out of the room

* * *

Unknown destination, unknown time.

Brandon shuddered as he remembered the events that just happened, he had, after escaping Thyferra ended up near an imperial planet and had to leap back into hyperspace with no calculations, an extremely risky move. All of a sudden Brandon heard and felt a shudder run through the ship and then he realized that the ship was breaking down. He quickly exited hyperspace to see a range of planets and orbital stations, he tensed up not knowing what to expect. Then he saw a long ship that resembled a cylinder which became a cone at the front end, there were a few bumps coming out of the hull, about three spires, two on bottom, one on top. Brandon stared wondering if he had ended up on some secret Imperial base and was starting to panic when a voice came over the comm.

"Who are you and what is your business here on Kelta?" the voice rang throughout the ship "are you part of that so called Galactic Empire? If you are I suggest you prepare to die."

Brandon hit the comm. button frantically and responded, "My name is Brandon, I'm not allied with the Empire, they killed my family!"

"Very well," the voice replied cautiously, "your ship appears to be a bit unstable so we will us a tractor beam to pull you into a hangar 5. If you are telling the truth we will decide what to do with you. But if you are lying to us you will be terminated."

Brandon responded simply with "understood."

It was only as his fighter was being drawn towards the hangar of the ship he that he realized the ship was probably the same size, if not bigger as an _Imperial _-Star Destroyer. Brandon gulped and prepared for the worst as his ship was drawn into the fighter hangar, which was for some reason empty. The TIE fit in with relative ease, then set down with a thud. Brandon then lowered the ramp and stared, there were about a dozen troops clad in red and black armor standing in a protective circle around a figure in white armor; exactly like that the Clone Troopers of old wore, or more specifically the commandos of the clone wars. The reason Brandon knew this was due to the fact that his father had once seen a commando team in action on an obscure planet in the outer rim, his father was at the time a mercenary though. He nodded towards Brandon

"Welcome aboard the _Kelta's Guide, _please stand by while we inspect you for any weapons." The Clone said, obviously a person who preferred to cut to the point. Even as he finished speaking some troops in blue and yellow armor stepped forward with a heavy scanner, and in less than a minute had scanned both Jason and the ship.

The clone then started talking again, "so you say you are not from the Empire yet you fly one of their ships, explain please."

Brandon sighed, "Well it all started around a week ago…"

When Brandon finished his short story the clone nodded solemnly, "your family isn't the first the Empire ruined, and I doubt it will be the last. Well now that I know about you I should return something, my name is Korr. I will find somewhere for you to live, teach you some survival skills, and give me a few months and I'll be able to put you with some who are working against the Empire right now. I figure this is what you would like."

Brandon nodded enthusiastically. Things were starting to look up; a new planet to live on, and a chance to get back at the Empire!

* * *

In orbit above Mustafar, 21:17 Coruscant time.

Ryan sighed as he sat down in the chair across from Hunter in the command center of the _Stalker_, Jocane was out with the _Final Justice_, his providence, and checking up on their operations on Ord Mantell. Sitting next to Hunter was the Barabel, Captain Zalngar, his green skin seeming to become lighter as he leaned back in his chair and the light bathed his scales. He was an extremely aggressive tactician, always preferring to take the fight to his enemies, especially when they were imperials.

"So we lost one _Hammerhead_ -light cruiser and they lost most of a fleet?" Ryan asked, hoping to ensure he had all the facts right.

Zalngar grinned and nodded, his teeth shinning in the light. "We kicked them good."

Hunter nodded slightly, "we got really lucky, Tarz was obviously not expecting upgraded ships like we had out there. I was expecting more from him though."

Ryan shook his head, "He had his cannons revved up to tear through, at least what it looked like to him, a bunch of old ships that shouldn't have provided a problem in the least and then slaughter me and those who came with me."

"This one wishes you would have allowed this one to kill ugly General." Zalngar said.

Hunter laughed, "Why didn't we just let him slaughter Tarz?"

"Because that would draw even more attention to us" Ryan replied tactfully, "The Emperor would come after us with a vengeance, seeing us as more than little pirates."

"Which we are." Zalngar stated proudly.

"Regardless, we can't let Palpatine know that," Ryan pressed on, "if he knew that it would mean more fighting and trouble on our half. So right now I'm riding on the hope that he thinks we're a part of Tyber Zann's consortium."

"Hasn't Zann been locked up or something like that?" Hunter asked his twin.

Ryan sighed, "Again, it doesn't really matter. If he has, we portray our efforts as some splinter faction of Zann's, or we play it up as we are trying to forestall his consortium's collapse until he's freed. Later we will worry about the consortium and Zann, right now the Empire is a much larger threat, in both size and military than Zann's collapsing organization."

"This one thinks we should crush that organization sooner than later." Zalngar stated.

"The Zann Consortium is already collapsing." Kull's voice sounded as he walked into the room and sat down next to Ryan, his gold and black armor not making a sound. Placing his helmet on the table next to him he looked the Barabel in the eye. "There are about a dozen splinter factions running through the outer rim now as a result of Tyber Zann's capture on Felucia."

"Kull," Ryan said in greeting, grabbing his friend's lower arm in a firm shake, "Good to see you again."

"Likewise, glad to know you're safe with us again."

Hunter shook his head, "I'm feeling mighty unneeded with this display of camaraderie."

Kull smirked in reply, then went on to business, "I have talked with our construction facilities and recruitment facilities, both report full output for what we'll need in the next year. We also discovered something not pleasant at all; you need to read this now." He said handing a datapad to Ryan.

Ryan skimmed it swiftly and then, cursing in Mandalorian, passed it to Zalngar and Hunter. The two read it and then starred. "They got a space station the size of a ten star destroyers?" Hunter exclaimed.

"Or something along those lines." Kull nodded, "so if all is to be trusted from Zero, then yes. And seeing as Zero is our best spy we have right now, especially after what happened at Thyferra, no offense Ryan, we need to take his words as the truth."

"I heard some talk of a vessel or something with the power to end the war with the rebel terrorists at some of the officer messes." Ryan stated slowly, "It was only for the higher ranking officers, no lieutenants were allowed or even Majors. I guess this is what they have had hiding in the Maw all this time."

"A giant death machine" Kull confirmed gravely.

"This one thinks it is not only the rebels who need to have fear." Zalngar finally spoke after reading the datapad a third time.

Ryan nodded, "We need to ready some kind of surprise for the Emperor and his little toy."

* * *

Jabiim 0:17 Coruscant time, four days after the skirmish over Cardia

Jason listened to the ground squelch as he walked through the mud. They had to move swiftly to the next checkpoint of potential rebel recruits in order to keep the imperials out of their hair. The good thing of such excessiveness of the rain was the fact that their footprints were always being washed away. There was still no guarantee, however, that the Imperials wouldn't be able to follow them. To the left of Jason was Cole, cradling his shortened version of a blaster rifle to ensure it did not get wet. They were being led by Keith, who was carrying his dual heavy blasters with ease. A little ways ahead was Sorn, scouring the path ahead. The team had split into two parts in order to link more cells and find recruits faster; a risky but necessary decision.

Suddenly Keith put his hand up, motioning a stop. Listening for a minute they heard a twig snap. Spinning around Jason saw a group of stormtroopers creeping towards them. Keith whispered to the two of them "flank them, I'll keep them busy."

Nodding, Cole pulled Jason to the left flank of the troopers. At the same instant Keith began firing both of his heavy blasters into the midst of the Stormtroopers, taking out a few in the first volley. The remaining troops took cover behind some trees and began returning with their own volley.

Jason slid behind a rock and readied his blaster rifle, checking that the charge clip was slid in tight. Cole nodded and began firing his cut down blaster. Jason began spraying the area at the same time. Several Stormtroopers fell over as blaster bolts surrounded them. Smirking Jason fired another round into yet another stormtrooper. Then he glanced behind him by chance, there were more Stormtroopers there. Without warning they opened fire. One blaster bolt hit Cole in the leg. Cursing Jason began returning his own volley. Then he reached for a grenade and hurled it into the midst of the other troopers. The explosion took out the majority of them, the rest were dispatched by the incapacitated Cole and Jason.

Jason heard Keith yell something, then watched as a Stormtrooper's head vanished from a sniper blast. Jason simply kept on pumping rounds into the midst of the Imperials, knowing that letting up would allow them to get to him and Cole. Sorn had now begun openly obliterating any stormtroopers that were in the middle, like a hunter after its prey. A few dozen blaster shots later and the patrol was finally destroyed. Cole began wrapping himself in some bandages to carry himself over until they reached their bunker of a base.

Keith hurried over. "How bad is it?"

Cole smirked as he wiped his wet hair, "It's not too bad. I've had worse."

Keith nodded. "Good, let's hurry up and get out of here. Sorn, make sure there aren't any more imperials coming in behind us, we'll leave them our nice little gift here."

The trio began jogging away towards the impromptu base, while Sorn crept through the woods with his sniper, constantly scanning for any new threats. They had been here on this drenched planet for near three days, and it was starting to annoy Jason how much rain there was. On Corellia people were overjoyed when it rained, especially since it meant the crop would grow better. Here Jason could quickly sympathize with why the people preferred a lack of rain; they only saw such a thing practically once a month. The boots that the rebels had were decent at best, barely maintaining traction in the slippery areas of the muddy surface. Finally they saw the trail that led to their hidden bunker. It was behind a smattering of trees and a pair of downed towers from who knew how long ago.

Sighing contentedly Jason looked behind him as Keith and Cole walked in through the door hidden in a pit. After they had gone through Jason followed suit and a few minutes later Sorn did as well. As Jason took off his boots, a habit that seemed to only be accepted by himself and Keith for whatever reason, Sorn shook his wet fur and cursed softly in his native tongue. "Stupid rain, does it ever stop?"

Jason shook his head and started walking in through the main hallway. The hallway was almost ten meters long, providing a narrow chokepoint for the rebels to have against any incoming imperial troops, should such a thing occur. As he reached the end of the near thirty foot long hallway Jason turned right, heading into the common area. From there he could go into the mess hall or the armory. Sorn on the other hand kept heading farther down the hall way, glancing warily into some of the hiding spots dug incase of imperial assaults or incase Cole should decide to try to scare him once again. _I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he slept with his sniper, _Jason reflected,_ he loves that gun more than any living thing I've seen him show affection to_.

As he entered the access code into the lock on the armory door he walked in to see Cole staring distantly at a rocket launcher. "Something on your mind?" Jason asked Cole.

Cole nodded slowly, "That's Gunro's launcher. He never goes anywhere without it."

Jason raised an eyebrow, "so he's not liable to forget it?"

Cole shook his head, "He treats it almost as good as Sorn treats his sniper rifle."

"If anyone can treat an object anywhere near as good as Sorn treats that rifle." Jason retorted half under his breath and then directed his next comment back to Cole, "and this worries you naturally, right?"

Cole responded, "I can't help but wonder if something is wrong if he left it-ah!" Cole broke off as he stumbled and placed a hand against a wall, propping himself up as his other hand reached for his leg that had been shot.

"Are you ok?" Jason asked as he ran over to support Cole.

Cole nodded with a strained expression on his face. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Jason moved back the makeshift covering on Cole's calf. The skin there was burnt and raw, and it was apparent from Cole's staggering that a few tendons had been burned off of the muscle. Cole tried vainly to keep himself stable with his other leg. "Yeah right," He said sarcastically, "you're leg looks like someone shoved it in lava."

Cole looked him in the eye "look, I've had worse, we don't need to bother anyone with this."

"You were incapacitated during the fight because of this leg!" Jason replied, "And you think you can walk around on it without using at least a little bacta?"

Cole sighed, "I didn't want to worry anyone about it. I figured I could suffer through it for a little while, at least till we got off this bloody planet."

Just then Jack walked in, his blondish hair plastered to his face from all of the rain. "A little while?" he repeated incredulously, "You know as well as I do that these little cell planting missions last a long, long, time."

Cole watched Jack as he pulled his sniper off of his back and placed it on the rack. His sniper fired slugs just like Sorn's, giving the two of them an advantage as they could silence the gun for stealth missions. He also started pulling a pair of ballistic firing handguns, also with silencers on them. "We have no way of knowing for sure though." He responded, desperately trying to find a counter to these arguments.

Jack raised an eyebrow as he yanked out his actual blaster. "Really?" he asked, "Cause the last time I checked this is the third cell planting mission you have done. And the other two lasted for at least around four months. So if you have some form of physically hampering injury, which by looking at your calf muscle you do, you need to go use some form of a medical treatment." He paused and looked at Cole's face as he put his rifle away, "or I can get Keith to make it an order."

Cole sighed and began heading out the door, presumably towards the med lab. Jason looked at Jack.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on you two kids." Jack said simply, "and Keith is too nice to do the mean parts." And he walked out.

Jason shook his head, yet another person calling him a kid. Then again, judging by Jack's gray strands in his blonde hair that he tried so hard to cover up, Jack was older than most of the members of the squad so it was little surprise that he seemed to watch out for Cole and Jason, the two youngest members of the team. He started to put his thermal detonators in their rack when he realized that Jack hadn't put his knives away. Shrugging off that little unusual coincidence he put his thermal detonators back and began walking out into the common area and sat down on a chair. He breathed in and looked up at the pale grey ceiling. Sighing he began thinking about the others. _Gunro,_ he thought, _what caused you not to bring the rocket launcher?_

* * *

On board a _Carrack-_cruiser, unknown destination, unknown time

General Tarz sipped his drink carefully. The tea was meant to keep him calm and ready for the upcoming weeks. He was being assigned by the Emperor to a classified mission, so classified that in order to take part in the darker parts of it he had to practically vanish. To do so the Emperor had sent him to a remote planet and had him leave the _Dark Blade _there to draw any curious eyes away from him. That was all fine by the General, he had done his share of operations no one could ever know about. It was what came with this one.

First was the need to make it look like Tarz was now nothing more than a Special Forces controller. This was why Tarz needed Zeth so badly, he needed some commando squads. He would disperse these new teams throughout the galaxy, secretly preparing them for the more important missions to topple the resistance front that had been unveiled through the discovery of Ryan's corruption.

The second and worst was that he would be working in a very, very close proximity to Darth Vader. The very name of Vader sent both chills of fear and shivers of excitement down Tarz's back. Impressing Vader could lead to quicker promotions, failing him would lead to near instantaneous death. There was another leader of sorts in this triumvirate, he was called Devastator. Tarz had no idea who this man was, or if he even was a man, but he was supposedly really good at whatever he did. He was supposed to meet with this third person in a little under a week. Sipping his tea, Tarz carefully moved his holochess pawn forward two spaces. The computer then calculated a response. Tarz had specifically programmed this Artificial Intelligence with battle data from Ryan Mendez's battles, which it would then apply to the game of holochess he was playing.

As the A.I.'s pawn moved forward Tarz prepared his plan, "Time to finish setting the playing field." He said with a smirk.

* * *

**A/N Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry about the delay if there is any one consistently reading this. Reviews are welcome**


	4. Chapter 3: Building Thunder

_I do not own Halo or Star Wars_

* * *

Gunro cursed at the large tree that had recently planted itself sideways next to him. Listening carefully he heard the familiar whine of the Imperial speeder bikes as they began their next strafing run. The heat from the laser blasts made Gunro want to pull away from his makeshift cover. An annoyed Zaalras gave a tremendous roar as he brought his Wookie crossbow to bear and fired a volley into the midst of the retreating speeder bikes. One of the bolts hit a fuselage and blew it in half. The flaming remains spiraled into an unfortunate second scout trooper, its impact redirecting the speeder straight into a nearby true

"Nice shot fur ball." Gunro muttered as he checked his blaster pistol, "Now if only stupid Gabby hadn't told me to leave my kriffing rocket launcher behind so as not to 'intimidate the locals' we wouldn't be in this kriffing mess!"

Zaalras growled something back about watching Gunro watching his language and not insulting Gabby for trying to help them get more recruits.

"I'm not trying to insult her Zaal, I mean she is my sister," Gunro replied, using a nickname only he and Keith could use on the Wookie, without fear of having their arms ripped off, "But it's just that if I had my rocket launcher…"

The Wookie cut him off by growling that there was a stormtrooper coming around the left side of their makeshift cover. Gunro pivoted on his heel and fired a bolt straight into the trooper's thoracic cavity, and then a second one to make sure he had penetrated the armor. The trooper fell to the ground, his blaster sinking uselessly into the mud next to him.

"Thanks," Gunro said, "As I was saying we could have blown up that stupid imperial alarm and gotten out of this mucky death trap."

Zaalras replied by growling to him that either way the speeder bikes would have caught them.

Gunro sighed in exasperation as he dodged more of the speeder bikes' laser bolts, "alright, alright. I get it; my rocket launcher wouldn't have helped! Happy?"

Zaalras growled a reply and popped out of cover to shoot at a couple more speeder bikes. One of the bolts struck the rider in the chest, knocking him off of his bike and onto the ground. If the bolt had not pierced into his cavity and killed him, the impact of his momentum suddenly being halted by solid ground certainly finished the job.

"But if your piece of junk bowcaster can take out some speeders wouldn't my beautiful rocket launcher get some more kills against vehicles, which, by the way furball, it was designed to take out?"

Zaalras growled a reply about his bowcaster having taken years to craft, and it was much more efficient than any regular rocket launcher.

"Hey!" Gunro replied as he hurled a thermal detonator towards the whining of the oncoming speeder bikes, "My launcher has both heat seeking and homing devices on it, in addition to a multi rocket clip that can hold up to four rockets, and fire them in rapid succession. And, to top all that off, it fire modified anti-tank laser cannon shots. What says your nice little bowcaster, which can only shoot little bowcaster bolts, to that?"

As the explosion from the detonator rocked the area around them, Zaalras leapt up and fired a pair of bolts off with expert precision. As he came back down behind the tree he growled that it was all clear.

"Well why didn't you say so sooner?" Gunro grunted as he got up, "I could have used that ten seconds you wasted stretching."

Zaalras sighed that the red haired human was hopeless.

Gunro's green eyes meet the Wookie's dark brown eyes as he raised an eyebrow, "Hopeless? How am I hopeless?"

Instead of replying Zaalras began walking away towards where they had last had contact with Gabby and Xien Xuv. They walked swiftly, not wanting to risk slipping in the mud by running. As they neared the last point of contact, the noise of additional blaster fire echoed through the trees to the duos ears. Cursing Gunro grabbed his blaster pistol and slammed a fresh cartridge of Tibana gas into it. "I thought we got their attention."

Zaalras shrugged and growled the idea that maybe there were reinforcements. Gunro shook his head as he spun the pistol around a finger. Growling and cursing under his breath as he rounded a cluster of trees. In front of them was a small Jabiimian town. Inside of the town limits was a group of new rebels protecting some civilians from roughly a battalion of stormtroopers. There next to them was Gabby, evident by her red hair that she shared with her brother, and the only alien; Xien Xuv. Cursing even more Gunro fired a short volley to confuse the stormtroopers. Four stormtroopers reacted instantaneously and turned towards the new source of hostilities. Zaalras gave a low aggravated moan as his massive body hit the walls of a building. From his cover he began firing at the group of white armored men. Even more troopers turned to focus their attention on the source of the green bolts.

Gunro saw his sister smirk as she fired a couple of rounds into the now efficiently divided stormtroopers. Gunro finally reached some boxes behind which he hid behind to get a better angle on the imperials. Between Gunro, Zaalras, and the other rebels they had the stormtroopers pinned from three different angles. Activating his short ranged comm. he contacted his twin. "They're getting this everyway aren't they?"

Gabby laughed "That they are. Took you a while to get here didn't it bro?"

Gunro sighed as he fired again, "if someone had let me bring my rocket launcher…"

Zaalras growled over the comm. that they should spend less time arguing and more time killing Imperials.

Gunro grinned as an idea occurred to him, "Hey Gabby, do you remember that stunt we pulled on Nal Hutta?"

Zaalras moaned sadly as Gabby started laughing, "Oh yeah, I could never forget that."

Gunro directed his next directive to his taller companion. "Come on furry, we need to do this. If you don't help us, we are in some deep trouble."

Zaalras moaned softly as he began stalking around the cluster of structures closest to the Stormtroopers. Forcing open a door he walked in and growled a ready over the comlink. Grinning Gunro fired a few more rounds and looked at Gabby, mouthing the word, "now." Quickly she tossed him a second pistol. Gunro caught it and checked the clip, normally he left the duel wielding of heavy blasters or even just regular blaster pistols to Keith, but this was a special occasion. Grinning he ran around the corner and opened fire with both pistols as he charged. The stormtroopers stared in surprise as the apparently madman as he rushed at them with two blaster pistols. At the same time Gabby began rolling forward and in between cover and firing bursts of blaster bolts. The troopers readied their rifles to end this charade, wondering if the rebels had truly become so desperate. Before they could fire a door behind the battalion flew off of its hinges as Zaalras made his appearance. The troopers, that were not killed from or dazed by the flying door, stared at a huge form of an angry Wookie. The Wookie never gave them a chance as he leveled his crossbow and began firing into their midst. Faced with two crazed and obviously dangerous rebels, an angry Wookie, and an unknown amount of support backing up the rebels, the stormtroopers did one of the most intelligent things the empire had ever done in Gunro's opinion. Rather than stay and die to the last man, the troopers turned around and ran away fast. Zaalras fired bolts at them in provocation.

As he watched the retreating stormtroopers Gunro started laughing, until his sister came behind him and slapped him on the back of the head. "Hey what was that for?"

"I heard about you ranting against me." Gabby replied.

"I wouldn't call it ranting…" Gunro began, stuttering slightly. "More like trying to… um… trying to…."

Gabby raised an eyebrow "trying to what?"

"Um…" Gunro stalled, realizing there really was no way out of this particular predicament without either insulting himself or his sister. Fortunately for him deliverance came in the form of a stubby alien. Xien Xuv tugged on Gabby's arm and looked at her with his large black eyes. "Can we get out of here before they come back?"

Gabby sighed, "Xien's right, we should get out of here."

As Gabby turned towards the new rebels and civilians to give them instructions on what to do next Gunro sauntered over to Zaalras. "So, about that little communication with my sister..."

The Wookie gave Gunro an innocent expression and moaned questioningly. Gunro looked up at his Wookie comrade, "Well you had to have told her if she heard about my rant."

"Actually he didn't." Gabby said as she walked over. "I planted a bug on your collar."

"You did what?" Gunro exclaimed incredulously. "That means you…"

"Heard everything you've said today, yes." Gabby replied as she began walking towards the direction of the hidden bunker.

Gunro stood there dumfounded. "She's your sister." Xien stated as Gunro sighed in exasperation.

* * *

Jason exhaled slowly. Slowly he lifted his eyes up towards the ceiling, but was stopped by another face peering into his. Reflexively his hand began going to his blaster before he remembered it was stuck in the armory. Then as he looked into the green eyes of the person leaning over his chair he relaxed, slightly.

"Time to wake up!" Gabby half shouted at him.

Jason shook his head, "couldn't you just, I don't know, tap me or something?"

"I suppose I could…" She replied slowly with a slight smirk, "But that's not as much fun."

Jason sighed. "Figures…"

"Come on this way." She cut him off. Jason shook his head and began leaving the common area and heading down the hall towards the briefing room. On the way he raised a questioning eyebrow at Gunro, who simply shrugged while shaking his head, apparently as bewildered by his sister's actions as Jason. Zaalras fell into step behind them as they made their way down the long hallway. Slowly they caught up to Jack, who was entering the code to open the door. The five of the filed into open seats as Keith continued talking.

"I miss anything?" Jason asked Cole.

"Not really, he's mostly been mentioning the success of Gabby's recruiting drives and our raids on imperial supply lines." Cole replied, his brown eyes flicking towards the activated comm. station. "No real mention of new mission objectives."

"Oh, so Jack's usual stuff?" Jason replied, "Minus the description of guts and gore?"

Cole smirked at Jason's reference of Jack's descriptions of some of the battles he had been in and the fact that they always involved detailed descriptions of how the enemies died. Jack glanced back at them and shook his head muttering something along the lines of 'kids these days'. Jason and Cole sat silent for a moment with smirks still etched on their faces. Then Keith shut off the comm. terminal with a sigh.

"Well Keith? Have we been promoted to rebel cell leaders?" Gunro called out jokingly. The room began laughing at Gunro's attempt of a joke

Keith looked at him wearily. "As a matter of a fact we have."

Gunro stopped in mid laugh. "What?"

Keith rubbed the back of his head uneasily. "We have had tremendous success and as a result we need to split apart the group to lead the resistance on two different fronts."

"What are the groups?" Jack asked in his chillingly calm, collect voice that came when he was preparing for a mission.

Keith sighed, "Well this has been a sudden change so I'm going to have to say… Alpha team will be myself along with Sorn, Cole, Drailix, and Xien Xuv. Bravo will be Jack, Jason, Gunro, Gabby and Zaalras."

Jack nodded after a sidelong glance at Cole, obviously worried that he'd do something stupid. Jason glanced at Gunro and Gabby, noting in their eyes their acceptance of him into their team. Keith breathed slowly, a preparation he seemed to use to ready himself for a speech. Then he activated the comm. to the parts of the buildings with the new rebels

"Now listen up, this is going to be a long haul to free this planet from the Empire, we may even fail. But we can't listen to the voices that will creep up telling us to quit and lie down like all the other civilians before the oppressors. The freedom of every sentient creature in the galaxy lies in the hands of people like us, and I for one, am not going to betray that trust!

"We are not the terrorists the Empire makes us out to be, we are among the last of the freedom fighters. There may be others out there who can help us, maybe we will have the fortune to meet them, but for now we stand on our own. When the Emperor's ugly face turns towards Jabiim, hoping to crush us beneath his heel like little insects, we will stand against him. When the Empire thinks it has successfully defeated us, we will prove them wrong by standing against them and their tyranny again. We will stand against their iron fist, we will stand against their cleansings, their genocides, we will stand against them even if they unleash the fires of hell against us.

"This won't end on Jabiim, or on any other single planet, this is a galaxy wide war, it has been since time immemorial. The constant war of good struggling to defeat evil, heroes pitted against villains, the fallen trying to pull the righteous down with them. Years ago, millennia ago, it was the mighty Republic standing against the vicious Sith and their minions. Now it is the traitors that have built the Empire against us. Their betrayal will be paid for in full; we will end the Empire and rebuild our new Republic out of their ashes! We will prevail!" Keith paused for a moment and breathed in, "you know what I think, and you know what we're up against, time to bring the Empire down, starting here. Dismissed."

As the members began leaving to make preparations to leave their bunker in the hands of the new rebel recruits, Jason began walking towards Keith. Keith looked up as he finished filing the report to the Dantooine cell. "Yes Jason?" Keith asked

Jason hesitated a moment, "So you trust me now? To not mess up I mean"

Keith laughed, "Of course I do. The main reason I had you in my team at first was so I could keep an eye on you in case something like this came up. You'll be fine with Gabby and Gunro, I'm sure of it."

Jason breathed a slow breath as he tried to find a way to stall the time. In his mind he wasn't ready for this, but Keith was probably the best judge for the situation, as he had been in an unknown, at least to Jason, amount of conflict. Keith looked him right in the eye and then began to speak once more

"Look kid." He said, gesturing for Jason to sit down, "When I was on my first battle, I was a little under twelve years old. I was scared witless. I almost didn't have the guts to pull the trigger when an organic enemy came towards me, I didn't want to be a murderer. Then I had to remind myself that it was me or him, so I had to pull the trigger. Your first battle was fluid, you fought very well. Now almost a month later and you have adapted faster than almost anyone I've ever seen, almost. So I personally believe that you can do anything you need to. Just follow your instincts, most of the time anyway, if it's going to make Gunro mad then don't follow that instinct."

Jason smirked as Keith said that. "I will …"

Keith laughed and gave Jason a reassuring pat on the back as he walked on, almost knocking Jason over, "You'll be fine and don't worry."

Jason smiled as Keith walked away; suddenly he felt two big furry paws on his shoulders. Glancing to his left he saw Gunro, "Hey Jason, furball wants to know if you're ready to go."

Zaalras gave a reply, a whine like denial of being a furball.

Jason paused for a moment, looking at the group he was with, and the task he had just been saddled with. A heartbeat later and Jason nodded his head, "Yeah, let's do this."

* * *

Coruscant orbit 13:00 Local time

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, felt his breath come through his rebreather in its usual manner, harsh and raspy. The cursed breathing never changed, always a steady cadence of torture, always reminding him of what he had once had, and had lost. Always there, like a ghost pointing a finger at him saying "You have done this yourself", more often than naught that ghost was in the form of his old master. Cursing the mechanical suit he was in, he did not even bother turning as the door opened, for he knew who it was.

"So the Emperor sent his new toy to speak with me this time did he?" Vader asked in his usual manner.

General Tarz stood there silently, while the man in the black armor next to him sighed in exasperation, "I'm not his new toy." The other sith replied, "I'm simply a useful solution to any problems that you would draw to much attention to."

Vader finally turned to view the fellow Sith. He was almost as tall as Vader, with a peculiar dark red hair. The one thing that he had that Vader did not was his undamaged body, that and the ability of stealth. Darth Vader was a very well known name; Darth Devastator was unheard of, making him ideal for dealing with situations that must be, at all costs, kept away from any form of publicity.

Vader stared at Devastator, would have been looking him in the eye were it not for the accursed mask, "You have your uses." The Dark Lord grudgingly admitted.

General Tarz cleared his throat nervously, his fear of being in the same room as two sith was overwhelming, but underneath that layer of fear was the General's cold determination and relentlessness. Two qualities Vader actually appreciated about the man. "My dear sith, things are moving more or less as planned."

"More or less because of your failure to either kill Mendez or capture him for interrogation" Devastator replied hotly. Vader did the closest he could to a frown underneath his mask; Devastator was too aggressive, to hot, to rash, even for Vader. It would cost him, one of the things Vader was glad he left behind, his emotions and attachments to people. Including _her_…

Vader turned his head slowly towards the General, "And?" He asked in his deep growl.

Tarz swallowed slowly, "Well the Emperor has claimed that we are closer to finding the source of the Crusaders funding and ships."

Devastator rolled his eyes, "Not like they really matter, they're just pirates." He dismissed casually. "We should be making a move on the Rebels."

"Leave that to me pup." Vader growled in reply, using the word purposely to gauge Devastator's control over his emotions. To his credit Devastator's eyes only narrowed. The spark of irritation was not enough for him to try something foolish, such as challenging the Dark Lord. "These Crusaders may be more dangerous than you give them credit for."

Devastator glared into the older Sith's dark mask for a heartbeat. After that he turned his glare, with a growl, to Tarz, seeing him as the weaker of the other two occupants. Tarz stood still and managed to maintain a form of a counter glare. Vader looked on, amused. The two seemed content to simply glare at each other for the moment, though Devastator seemed to be preparing to change that. Vader cut in before either of the duo decided to do something rash, not that it wouldn't have been entertaining, only that the Emperor seemed to have a special plan for them. "Needless to say you would not wish to defy the Emperor's wishes would you?

Devastator turned towards Vader once more. "What are his wishes now?"

Tarz looked up, "I do believe that is my cue to begin." As he said that he began putting up a holoscreen with Ryan Mendez, his brother, footage from the battle above Cardia, the battle of Felucia, and several of the former Commander's other battles. "For his wishes involve staying one step ahead of these Crusaders."

Vader crossed his arms and watched as Tarz presented his plan for doing what he said. As he listened he realized this could work for the Rebels as well, possibly he could kill two birds with one stone, and if Devastator was killed in the action, three birds. Feeling satisfied the Dark Lord of the Sith did the closest he could to a grin.

* * *

En route to Ord Mantell aboard the _Stalker_ 0:05 Coruscant time.

Deep in sleep, Ryan rolled to the side, and back again, trying to rid himself of the images plaguing his mind, until they finally settled into one continuous stream…

_The object was massive, easily dwarfing the space ships heading towards it. It was ring shaped and large enough for any vessel known to pass through. On the inside of the ring was what appeared to be a planet-like covering. It was full of landmasses and bodies of water. Despite the majestic appearance the feeling of danger seemed oppressive. A single cruiser, of an unknown design to Ryan, floated towards the ring world. In the space around it were many other ships, of different designs than the first with a purple color opposed to the angles that made up the first ship. The sides of the ships began lighting up and bolts of energy began flying towards the lone ship. Rockets flew from the outnumbered ship as well as a rail projectile, all in vain as the fleet of alien ships closed on it with no remorse. Again and again the energy volleys slammed into the thick hull of the ship until eventually it was falling towards the ring. Suddenly a flash emanated from the ring, destroying all of the ships. There were several other flashes of energy all over the galaxy at once, everything within the circumference of the ring of energy and all things ended. After the bright light there was only darkness and a deep raspy breathing._

Ryan shot up panting. This was not the first nightmare he had had, but it was the first one that incorporated the ring world. However every dream had ended with the same raspy breathing. Shaking his head to try and gain a clear train of thought, Ryan began putting on his preferred dark gray shirt. The breathing could only belong to one person in the galaxy, Darth Vader. However last he had checked Vader did not want to wipe out all life in the entire galaxy, which seemed to be the purpose of whatever sort of device the ring was. Shaking his head in a vain attempt to clear his mind, Ryan stood up. Slowly he advanced towards the viewport on the far side of his cabin. Watching the start streak by Ryan mulled over the confusion of what had transpired. Settling back down on his bed all Ryan could think was that he had a bad feeling about all of this suddenly.

* * *

_A/N and here comes the Halo related Arc_.

_Please tell me what you think_


	5. Chapter 4: Another Time

_A/N I do not own Halo, nor do I own Star Wars, and I did not write Leaves of Grass, That was Walt Whitman. _

_Now onto the Story. And the Halo side of things.  
_

* * *

Unknown planet in Wild Space…. error, cannot connect Coruscant link post to desired location… Coruscant time…. cannot connect Mon Calamari post Kelta Post reporting no connection to desired location

Error… No set transmission posts can connect Scanning for new source…. new source discovered. Uploading information and data to stationupdating information Information updated

Planet: Reach… August 30, 255220:17 Local time.

Burnt ground

That was all that was left, the burnt ground, the unforgivable scorched earth. The first thing Noble Six decided, as she landed on the ground, was that it should be softer. The old Mark V helmet lay on the ground, cracked and discarded. Her assault rifle was destroyed, cut through by an Elite's energy sword. To top that off, there were three elites still coming after her.

One closed in one her, energy dagger ready for the kill. It received an elbow to the face. Then the Zealot approached, readying his own energy dagger. _So is this how it ends? _She mentally asked herself, _this is how Noble team finally meets its end?_ Time seemed to slow as the dagger descended towards her, the world had gone still. _No_. was the one thought that cut through her mind, it pushed everything else aside, _I will not die like this, not yet._ The thought was unbidden, but it was all that was needed to push her onwards. Her left hand grabbed Emile's Kukri, which she had taken with her after his death. His final defiant words to his killer sounded through her mind _"__I'm ready! How 'bout you!__?"_

"I'm not ready." She answered his final question. She rolled to the right to avoid the energy dagger. The elite growled in frustration as his blade made contact with dirt. The alien never had the chance to correct his mistake. Noble Six plunged her blade deep into the throat of the alien, feeling the satisfaction of the steel cutting through the weakened shields and skin of her would-be-murderer. _That's for Emile_, she thought bitterly. She spun towards the other two elites, calculating her odds.

Both elites had energy swords, the Ultra within arm's reach of her, hesitating only ever so slightly. The spec ops elite held his position as well, unsure if he should charge this demon or not. The Ultra decided that there was only one way to end this, full out attack. With a vicious growl the alien charged Six, his energy sword arcing in an upward slice. Six drew her combat knife from its sheath on her Commando style chest plate. As the Elite drew near, Six made her move.

Her left hand grabbed the elite's sword arm, slowing it just enough to give her an opening. The Elite seemed to realize what was happening, but by then it was too late. The combat knife struck the shields. The shields flickered for a moment, and Six pressed upwards, the knife burying itself into the throat of the alien. As the alien clutched at its throat, trying in vain to stop the bleeding, Six grabbed the dropped energy sword and pivoted to face her final opponent.

The two warriors stared at each other. The spec ops elite was helmeted, shielded, had years of training, and was using its own weapons. Noble Six was helmetless, shield-less, and had little training with the use of an energy sword. "Shall we spar then? Or are we just going to size each other up all day?" She knew the elite probably couldn't understand what she was saying, nor did it care, but it made her feel better. Then the elite made an unexpected move. It raised one hand and grasped its helmet. With a sudden heave the alien discarded his helmet and looked straight at Six.

A silent understanding passed between the two of them. They were nearly on even ground, neither helmeted nor shielded; the only deciding factor now was who had the most skill with killing and who was the luckiest. Six smirked. The two stood for a few moments, neither willing to make the first move. Then the Elite decided it was his time. The alien dashed forward, his sword close to his body, intending to impale Six. The Spartan leapt aside and stuck out with her sword. The energized plasma cut through the tip of the alien's shoulder plate as the Elite spun to the side. The two spun around and faced each other once more. Again the alien charged, and again Six tried to land in a devastating blow, but the Elite moved out of way just in time. Three times they repeated this deadly dance, each time the opponents only nicking the other's armor.

As the two faced each other once more, Six finally figured out the flaw in the Elite's fighting. A very slight extension of his arm that would leave it open for a swift slash, which would, in theory, cut off the arm. Sure enough, when the Elite charged again, the same opening presented itself. Six took the chance. The Elite roared in pain as the superheated blades of plasma cut through his arm, the intense hear cauterizing the wound as it slashed through. Six landed on her feet, the Elite fell to the ground, clutching its stump of an arm. The Spartan surveyed the scene of devastation, the dead corpses of the aliens, before settling her gaze on the wounded Elite.

A thought crossed her mind; there had been virtually no opportunities to capture any hostile soldiers. The enemy, the Covenant as they called themselves, knew far more about humanity than the UNSC did of the Covenant. It was an unfair balance. Yet at the same time keeping a prisoner in this environment would not be conductive. The Elite staggered to his feet, again holding the energy sword in its left hand. It was then that Noble Six realized something else. The alien had been holding the energy sword in its left hand before the duel, but not during. It was as if the alien had been compensating for her lack of ability with the energy sword. The thought was ridiculous, but it still stuck with her.

The Elite disabled its sword and grabbed the discarded helmet. The urge to shoot it filled Six, but she realized she had nothing to shot with, and her knives were embedded in dead aliens. A distant whine suddenly filled her ears. A pelican was coming. The Elite did something similar to a grin and growled something. Then the alien replaced its helmet and vanished. Six stared at the air for a moment before tensing up, preparing for the sword to the back she knew would be coming. To her surprise it never came. The pelican finally became visible and began its descent towards the lone wolf.

Six slowly recollected her handgun, combat knife, and Emile's Kukri. The pelican hovered for a moment before it finally descended. The rear entry way opened. Six subconsciously brushed a strand of her blond hair, which had come lose during the fight, away from her face. As the ramp opened an almost tauntingly familiar figure stepped out. She spared the figure a curt five second glance, CQB helmet, Sapper chest plate, Commando left shoulder plate, CQC right shoulder plate, FJ/Para knee guards, UA/Buckler wrist guard. The primary color was a dark, near black, steel, with supporting dark red paint. There was a black cross painted on the Commando shoulder plate and a blood red symbol on his wrist guard. The unknown Spartan held a handgun at the ready, with a shotgun of unknown style or origin slung across his back. Before six could finish making her opinion of the fist figure, a second one followed. The design on the second Spartan made the first look ornate. EOD armor, all of his armor was EOD or basic. The only exceptions were the TAC/pad on his wrist and the grenadier knee guards, all of his armor was steel colored. An assault rifle was slung over his back, and a DMR rested in his hands. "Identification Spartan?" The slightly smaller Spartan asked, holding his hand gun at the ready.

Six replied without thinking, "Spartan-B312, Noble Six. Yours?"

"Noble team eh?" the large Spartan asked, disregarding her question for a moment, "Spartan-333, Echo team, or the Remnant of Echo Team, you can call me Brian. The one without social manners is Spartan-777, Kreavon, also Remnant of Echo. What about you 'Noble Six'? What's your name?"

Six hesitated, her blue eyes meeting the gold visor of Brian's helmet, her name…_ I didn't even tell anyone on Noble my name_… "Tara." She almost whispered. "My name is Tara."

Brian glanced around. "Are you the last survivor of your team?"

Tara nodded.

Kreavon looked around as well, scanning the ground, "Are there any other survivors from the battle here?"

Tara shook her head, "I found the bodies of thirteen Spartans, all deceased."

"Son of a…" Kreavon trailed off before looking at Tara once more. "And you killed all these aliens?"

Tara looked straight at where Kreavon's eyes should be, "Yes."

Kreavon let out a slow whistle followed by a chuckle. "Impressive, for one Spartan to hold her own against all this." he gestured towards the dozens of Alien corpses and the destroyed Wraiths.

Brian shook his head "We should be leaving soon, but before we do, let us give our fallen comrades one last act of compassion."

The three Spartans went through, finding each of the thirteen corpses that Tara had seen, and retrieved their tags. A distant rumble sounded, causing Brian to look up. Kreavon looked towards the ground. Tara paused briefly, and grabbed her cracked helmet. Brian looked at her, "Won't be much use that in that state of damage will it?"

Kreavon shoved his teammate in the back, "Some people are more attached to their armor than you big man."

A memory came unbidden to Tara's mind, Emile referring to Jorge in a similar fashion. She blinked it away. "It'll help me remember what happened here."

Brian nodded, "I can understand that. Let's mount up."

The three Spartans loaded into the Pelican. A voice sounded from the cockpit, "You sure took your time; I was able to read an entire poem while you guys were scouring the remains." A red helmet glanced back. "Oh and you found a survivor. She is?"

"Spartan-B312, Noble Six." Tara replied unconsciously, forgetting that Noble team no longer existed aside from her. As an afterthought she added "You can call me Tara as well though…"

The Spartan had a Scout helmet, painfully similar to Jun's, laying on the chair next to him and Recon shoulder plates. His wrists were plain, his knees fortified with FJ/PARA knee guards and his chest piece was that of UA Multi-Threat Variant. His face was pale, almost chillingly so. His bright green eyes locked right onto hers, in the fashion of a sniper. His red hair was past what Tara would have considered regulations for a normal soldier, passing his ears and almost reaching the collar of his armor. Why he was allowed to keep it like that was beyond her, it was almost as long as hers. "I'm Genesis, Spartan-555; professional sniper and a bloody good pilot if I do say so myself. We're about to take off, might wish to strap in."

As Tara reached her seat, Kreavon's motioned towards the cockpit, "He's also obsessed with Poetry that one. Always has to find a poem and knows, more than likely half the poems under the soon." His voice lowered slightly, "Though I suppose it's a way for him to stay sane amidst all that has happened."

Tara nodded, it was understandable; these three had been part of a team longer than she had been with Noble team, and their deaths had been hard enough, she could only imagine how they felt losing most of their team. The pelican began vibrating as the engines hummed to life. Tara took the time to look around. It was an armory inside of the pelican. Assault rifles, DMRs, grenades, rocket launchers, machine gun turrets, even the cannon of a gauss warthog, were all piled up inside the pelican. The dropship finally peeled off the ground and began its ascent.

They had barely crested over the ruins before the pelican shook, plasma bolts striking its armor. Brian pivoted, staring out of the rear entry way. "Banshees! Tara, how good are you with rocket launchers?"

Tara glanced at the large bulky weapon Brian was holding. Her blue eyes looked towards the five Banshees pursing them. "I can take them out."

Kreavon picked up a second rocket launcher. "Let's fry these covie scum."

Tara nodded and readied her launcher. Kreavon loosed his first rocket. The Banshee rolled out of the way just in time. A second rocket flew from his launcher, spiraling straight into the Banshee's cockpit.

Kreavon reached for more rockets, and listened to the whoosh of Tara's first rocket, and was about to load his rocket in before seeing her rocket blast engulf two Banshees. One maintained formation with the other two, despite the damage to its side. Her second rocket struck the center Banshee. The aircraft exploded, fragments pelting both of the adjacent alien fighters. The shockwave from the explosion forced the undamaged Banshee straight into a rock formation. It exploded into a blue-purple mix of fire. The already damaged Banshee shuttered as the shockwave and fragments barraged it. Fire began trailing from it, but it continued the attack. A blue blur flew out of the Pelican and landed on the fighter. The plasma grenade's detonation was enough to finish off the crippled fighter. Tara brushed a strain of hair out of her face.

As the two Spartans reached their seats, Kreavon turned towards Tara. "Good job with that very nice shooting. You might get to be our heavy weapons specialist, but the demolitions department is still mine."

"Thanks" Tara murmured, a surge of exhaustion overwhelmed her and she had to sit down. Dimly she realized that this was the first time in weeks she had a chance to rest fully, it felt wrong to rest, when so many others were dead and she wasn't. Kreavon sat on the opposite row of chairs from her. As the pelican began to tilt upwards and the sun shined through the blast shield, Genesis's voice sounded from the cockpit. "'Again 'tis just at morning – a heavy haze contends with daybreak," he paused, "'Again the trembling, laboring vessel veers me…'" he trailed off, "Where do we veer too?" he asked rhetorically.

Tara never heard the answer as her vision became black, her body finally embracing the rest it craved so horribly.

* * *

Tyran 'Zealtee stood and watched the human dropship fend off the Banshees. It was a surprising feat. The pain from having his right arm cut off had only marginally subsided. He had underestimated the human female, even after watching her slaughter dozens of his comrades. That was a mistake he could never make again. Growling deeply in annoyance, he replaced his energy sword by his hip. He was a Special Operations commander; he could not be so rash in his choices. And now he had dishonored himself. Tyran breathed out, at least he hadn't lost blood in the duel; it would have been even more dishonorable had such a thing happened. "Demon. I will hunt you down, and we will finish this duel, when we are both ready." He promised.

A phantom hovered above his position. As he glanced at the fleeing human aircraft, he felt the gravity beam bring him up into the drop ship. As he ascended, he prepared to deliver his report.

* * *

_A/N Well I'm still alive. I apologize about not updating for what feels like the longest time. Exams and related have been crazy and just school in general. I will try to get a more consistent update rate going._

_Also thanks for the reviews, and to address "pissed off star wars fanatic"'s reviews. I thought I saw somewhere that the Z-95's had hyperdrives, I did a little research and realized I was wrong, so I apologize about that. As for the Mandalorian details, I sort of answered your question in the next chapter and also most books with Boba (I'm assuming Bob's means Boba) in them were written before the Mando language was actually in books. There's been a lot of different authors who wrote with Mandalorians and Boba Fett, since he's such a popular character, and related aspects, and therefore their language's appearance in books is a bit sporadic.  
_

_Thank you for taking the time to read this and please review!  
_


	6. Chapter 5: Into the Fray

****_A/N Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm finally back. Sorry that it took so long to update, adapting to college life and balancing out multiple commitments within are rather difficult. I'll try to develop a consistent updating schedule, but until I'm completely acclimated to college, I can't make any promises. anyway, enjoy the chapter!  
_

* * *

**Planet: Reach… August 31, 255202:43 Local time.**

Tara's eyes opened to the dim light of dawn. Kreavon was awake, though with his hands clasped together, and his head bowed in silent prayer. Brian was in the cockpit speaking with Genesis about something. Slowly and cautiously, in an attempt to avoid disturbing Kreavon, she crept towards the cockpit. She listened to the discussion already underway. Brian's grey eyes were focused on Genesis, "It's a long shot to try this though."'

"I know," Genesis replied, "But at the same time we need something to make it through. Those ruins that we discovered underground may just do it."

Tara couldn't stop herself from commenting on this, "I hope you're not referencing the ruins under Sword base, we sort of destroyed those."

Brian turned towards her, "glad to see you're awake. No we weren't referring to those ruins."

Genesis snorted, "I swear ONI knew so much more than they ever admitted, maybe they deserved what they got."

Brian shot him a glare, before returning his attention to Tara, "We were sent by ONI to investigate several ruins deep underground about a month ago. These ruins were that of some form of an ancient fortress. Before we could get any information sent back to ONI, we were being redirected to New Alexandria."

Genesis continued from Brian's pause, "We believe that this fortress may be the place to go to hole up until this storm blows over. There are only a few entrances, and only one of them is big enough to fit a dropship in, allowing us to easily limit Covenant access. Also I could wound any incoming forces with my sniper before they got within firing range."

Tara could sense a catch coming, "So why the hesitation?"

Brian resumed now, "Well the problem is that these ruins are now controlled by Covenant forces, or so we believe. The difficulty in taking that fortress from the aliens may be a task that requires more than just the four of us, and at the very least it would draw more unwanted attention from their eyes in the skies."

"I say we go for it." Kreavon had decided to join the conversation. "Yeah there's only four of us, but let's face it. Tara here has proven herself one of the most lethal Spartans we've ever met, or at least the body count did." Tara wasn't quite sure how to take Kreavon's comment, so she took it as a simple fact "And the rest of us are just bad company, bad company for the Covenant. Genesis can easily give us some serious missile support with this thing and sniper support if we don't want to risk damaging the Pelican. Big man you can punch a hole through just about any covie we meet. And of course with my amazing shotgun to top it off, we can take on a fortress occupied by hostile forces. Don't you think so Tara?"

Tara paused. "Yeah, why not?"

Brian looked at them. "Fine, but this is not going to be easy. Full suit, everything you can carry and fight with."

Kreavon walked back into the Pelican's bay. He slung his shotgun over his back, and then clamped on an assault rifle. He took a handful of grenades and a hand gun to top off the list. "When big man says get everything you can fight with, he means everything."

Tara nodded, grabbing a rocket launcher and slinging it over her back. She grabbed a DMR and a pair of handguns. She paused and looked at the Gauss cannon. Then Brian grabbed it, "Kreavon might think you can be the heavy weapon specialist, but this baby is still mine."

Kreavon shook his head, "Always have to have the biggest stick don't you? I feel like you're overdoing it at times."

Brian shrugged, "It's not a full sized Gauss cannon, and it will be useful for ripping through any hunters we may encounter. And this is a forerunner fortress, which means there will be just about every covenant in this sector guarding it. They see this thing as a sacred fortress; I see it as merely a nice camping spot."

Kreavon smirked, "that's also a spit in their face as well. Hey covie scum, we got your precious religious fortress, come and get it from us."

Tara decided to get involved, "Kreavon we had enough trouble convincing Brian to agree to this, let's not change his mind."

Kreavon shrugged as he put on his helmet. "Fair point."

Brian shook his head, before grabbing a helmet from the overhang. "You'll need a new helmet to replace the damaged one. This was" he hesitated, "requisitioned from an ONI office before we left. Mark V powered assault armor, well it's just the helmet, but it should prove useful. Put it on and make whatever adjustments you need to while we head on in."

Kreavon opened a private link with Brian. "So what's your opinion on her?"

Brian paused for a moment. "Seems to be as dangerous as we thought. However she has lost her entire team, I don't know how long she had to get to know them, more than likely suffering psychologically from their loss. She hasn't shown much opinion in anything, towards anything, or of anything. She really only replies to us when we direct comments towards her or she feels that she should make a comment, rather appropriate and fitting replies mostly, so not one of the Spartans with no idea how to interact with other people. Has the distinct feel of two things in my mind. A lone wolf… and a natural born killer. I haven't seen much of her in action, neither of us has, but she has proven herself. I studied the battle scene, two knives were used in the killing of those last two elites, but no bullets had hit the armor, it is likely that none were used at all. Anyone who can kill two Elites with knives and injure a third with only an energy sword which she, theoretically, never had experience with, is hyper lethal in my books. Almost reminds me of him."

"Third Elite?" Kreavon asked surprised, glazing over Brian's last comment, "There was no third Elite."

"It wasn't dead, but there was a dismembered arm on the ground next to her, an energy blade had cut through it. She still has the sword attached to her hip, not sure if she realizes it or not." Brian clarified.

Kreavon never got to reply. Tara turned around, fully suited up, and looked at them. "I'm ready." She stated. Brian nodded.

"ETA is five minutes Brian, get your cohorts ready, for I will be dropping you on the ground and then going back into the beyond to wait for your beck and call. When you call I will be contenting Kreavon by providing those blasphemous aliens with a one way ticket to hell, and an invite to stay there for eternity. Then, once I deliver this divine judgment to these alien swine, I will deliver the weapons of the righteous to the holy warriors of humanity." Genesis said. "In other words I'll be using missile support and delivering weapons as needed."

As the pelican began entering the network of caves, the Spartans did a few final last minute checks on their equipment and weapons. Brian strapped the Gauss cannon to his back and picked up a chain gun with relative ease. It reminded Tara too much of Jorge. The seconds ticked by as the light became dimmer and dimmer. Finally they reached a large segment open area of the cave. "We're here" muttered Kreavon. Brian held up his hand, then motioned the three forward.

As they jumped out of the pelican and landed on the ground, Genesis's voice came over their comm. "I'm moving the pelican back into a less noticeable location, trying to stay out of their visual range. Contact me if you need pick up or missile support. You'll know when I found a sniper nest."

"Affirmative" Brian replied, "I want radio silence once we go in, no need for them to pick us up on any listening devices."

Upon affirmative gestures from the other Spartans, Brian motioned them to start advancing. Kreavon took point, his assault rifle held at the ready. Tara moved behind him, scanning the rock faces with her DMR, watching vigilantly for any contacts. Brian brought up the rear, his massive machine gun held at a slight angle. The three Spartans crept silently towards the fortress, until they were within about a hundred meters of the bridge that led into it. Tara had to admit, the bridge leading into the fortress almost gave it a medieval feel.

After the bridge was in easy visibility, the three Spartans crouched behind various pieces of cover. Three Elites and ten Grunts were patrolling the bridge. A Shade turret was set up on the far end of the bridge, the spherical turret being manned by another of the monkey like Grunts. Brian motioned towards the turret and held up three fingers. Then he simulated an explosion with his hand. Tara switched her DMR for her rocket launcher, while Kreavon checked his assault rifle. Brian counted down on his fingers, _three, two, _Tara breathed in_, one_. Propping the rocket launcher on the nearby rock, she fired. The rocket flew straight and true, decimating the turret before the aliens even knew it had been fired upon. Simultaneously Brian and Kreavon began spraying the area with suppressive fire. The sheer volume of bullets coming from Brian's machine gun ripped apart several of the hapless Grunts, blue blooded holes appearing in their grey skin. The front most Elite's shields suffered heavy damage in the first few seconds of the firefight, and was finished when Tara had pulled out and fired her DMR into its skull.

The other two Elites motioned for the Grunts to pull back, firing their plasma rifles in the direction of what seemed to be the biggest threat, Brian. Brian's rocky cover was sufficient enough not only to stabilize his machine gun, but also to protect him from almost all of the plasma shots. Kreavon ceased fire and pulled out his shotgun.

The grey and red armored Spartan dashed from outcropping to outcropping, careful to avoid drawing the alien's attention off of Brian. Tara picked off a couple more Grunts, piercing their skulls with precise shots. By now the aliens' front line was in disarray. Tara readjusted her aim for a moment. Just when she did a plasma bolt flew past her head. "Snipers." She muttered under her breath. Before she could align her DMR with where the fire had come from, a muffled report sounded. A Jackal's bird like head exploded, and the body fell from the tower it had been in. The bright red armor of Genesis stood on a distant outcropping, the pelican providing a dull green background for him.

Kreavon by now had reached the edge of the bridge. With a shout he tossed a grenade towards the elite's cover. The explosion ripped apart both of the elites and a large segment of their cover. Tara raised an eyebrow, whatever Kreavon had used, it wasn't a normal grenade. Brian leapt over the rocks he had been behind and began advancing, Tara followed suit. As they approached the entry way to the fortress, Tara took position on one side of the door, while Brian eased himself behind a low lying rock. Kreavon walked up to the door and touched pieces of it. Tara could almost see Kreavon's smirk as a holographic light appeared and turned green. His apparent smirk vanished when a Zealot-class elite charged through the door, its sword intent on impaling him. The alien was well armored, but even its powerful armor was damaged when Brian's and Tara's weapons began a barrage. As the alien roared its frustration, Kreavon fired his powerful shotgun twice, the powerful bullets ripping through the damaged shields and then the armor. The alien fell, its four mandibles still spread wide in rage.

Kreavon strode over the alien, his large shotgun sweeping the hall as he entered it. Brian went in behind him, his machine gun still held at waist level. Tara cleared the open area, before following them herself. Genesis stayed back to guard the open area. The hall behind the gate branched into three separate paths, Kreavon motioned for Tara to follow one, while he took the other one. Brian took the stairs towards the upstairs hanger. Tara walked through the hallway carefully, her rifle ready should she encounter any Covenant. The hall was surprisingly deserted. A distant barrage of plasma and responding fire from Brian's machine gun could be heard echoing down the hall. Tara rounded the corner and saw that her hallway met up with Kreavon's. She also saw an angry Zealot-class Elite standing between the two of them, plasma repeaters in each hand, aimed at both of them. Its mandible's spread in an ugly growl.

Tara barely had time to react as the alien opened fire, throwing herself backwards to avoid the burning bolts of energy. Kreavon moved slower, but his Commando shoulder plate stopped the plasma shots that were intended for his head. Without waiting to discover how her ally was holding up, Tara primed and tossed a frag grenade into the open area. The Elite howled in agony and fury. Yanking out both of her handguns, the Spartan-III rounded the corner and took aim. As soon as she had her magnums leveled with the alien's chest, she squeezed both triggers. Although her enhanced strength was supreme, the handguns' powerful kicked forced her to adjust her aim every few shots. She wasn't sure if her magnums could kill the alien before its plasma repeaters tore through her shields, but it was chance she had to take. As the alien tried to bring both of its own weapons to bear on the Spartan-III, a grey and red figure rolled behind the alien, plunging two long knives into parts of its triple jointed legs. As the alien roared in pain, Kreavon drew two more knives, stabbing them through the alien's arms and into its legs, pinning them there. Kreavon spun around once more, facing the downed Elite. The alien glared at the Spartan, fiery hatred in its eyes. The Spartan calmly placed his left hand underneath the alien's neck. As he did this, his visor depolarized, allowing the alien to see his face.

"Remember this face, so you may tell the others who sent you to Hell." Kreavon growled out. Then a blade shot forward from the underside of his wrist, stabbing into the Zealot's throat. The hatred never left the eyes, even as the life did. Shaking his head, Kreavon pulled the knives out of the dead alien. Tara wasn't sure what to think of how Kreavon had killed the wounded alien, but she did not have time to dwell on it now. Kreavon motioned towards some stairs, "I'll go help the big man out, you make sure the rest of this tunnel is clear."

"Affirmative," she replied, before moving out. In truth she suspected that there would not be many more covenant in this part of the fortress, however as a precaution she reloaded her magnums and DMR. This hall was longer than the previous one, and poorly lit. Her instincts kept her alert, even if her motion tracker didn't detect anything. It hadn't picked up that Zealot that had tried to ambush them either. Hesitantly, with her magnums scanning the area with every step she took, she advanced. The faint echoes of plasma rifles, Brian's machine gun, and Kreavon's heavy shotgun reverberated throughout the hall. Finally she reached the end of the hall and found herself in a large chamber.

The chamber was semi-spherical in shape. The center was surrounded by transparent material. In the center were two large rings, slowly circling a ball of energy. Tara crept closer, trying to determine what the energy had in it. Kreavon's voice startled her "all clear. Covies neutralized. So whenever you're ready to meet us at the hanger, we'll be guiding Genesis in."

"I'll be there in a second; I just want to get a reading on the energy in this chamber." Tara replied.

"Roger that, let us know if you need anything." Kreavon replied.

The blue ball of energy seemed familiar to her for some reason, what reason she couldn't figure out. She took a couple of more steps towards the panels edging the clear barrier, looking at them and then at the ball of energy. A sudden roar brought her out of her curiosity, as a massive Elite Zealot slammed into the ground, its mandibles still spread open in a growl. Tara cursed herself; she should have remembered there was normally a third Zealot, at least in her experience. The energy sword cut clean through her DMR, leaving her momentarily weaponless. In an attempt to buy time, she swung half of the bisected rifle like a bludgeon, knocking the Zealot back a step. She then hurled the other half into the alien's face. Using the precious seconds it took for the alien to hurl the half of a rifle aside, she drew a magnum and Emile's Kukri.

The two combatants sized the other up, before the Zealot leap forward, its sword aiming at Tara's heart. As she leapt to the side, she stabbed Emile's Kukri into the massive alien's side. A roar of pain filled her ears, as the enraged Zealot swung at her again, barely missing her. The Elite head-butted her, knocking her back. As she stumbled the Zealot charged into her, forcing her against the transparent wall. She felt her hand hit something on the control panel.

She finally aimed her magnum and fired several shots into the alien's leg, piercing its shields and armor. As the alien's grip slackened, she delivered a left hook to the alien's face. Pressing her advantage, she ripped the Kukri out of the Zealot's side, and then slashed its leg as she rolled past. She pivoted to come face to face with the wounded alien. It was then that she saw the rings spinning faster around the ball of energy, which seemed to be expanding. The Zealot saw it as well; a look equitable to a human look of worry crossed its features. An energy wave pulsed from the center, filling the chamber. The few stranded objects in the chamber vibrated as the first wave hit it, then vibrated even faster when a second wave hit, and vanished when the final wave hit. The fourth wave then cracked the barrier. Cursing, Tara took off. The Zealot was not a concern compared to whatever this device was doing. "Kreavon come in."

"Yes princess?" Kreavon's voice had a verbal smirk, "How may I help you this fine…"

"Not now." She cut him off, "that energy I was examining has gone off the charts, and everything it comes into contact with is vanishing. I'm not sure what it'll do to us, but it's not good."

A pause came from the other end, before Brian's stern voice came over the channel, "Isn't that energy inside a separate chamber?"

"It was" she replied, "but I think it's breaking out." Even as she finished her statement a loud shattering sound echoed down the hall, and a shockwave caused her to stumble. She glanced back just in time to see a second energy wave slam into the Zealot, which was still following her. "It broke the barrier, and I don't want to know what happens when it reaches peak power."

A curse was heard from Kreavon, while Brian directed his attention to the task at hand "Genesis, we need a hot evac from the hanger. We think this entire base is going to explode, or disintegrate, we're not sure which. But we need to get out of here now."

"Affirmative," Genesis replied, "ETA a few seconds, better be ready."

Larger energy waves were shaking the entire fortress now. Tara cursed as she stumbled. Picking herself back up, she glanced back just before entering the hanger bay. The Zealot had followed her all this way, purple blood still dripping from its wounds. A massive energy surge came up behind it. The alien roared its anger at her as the wave engulfed it. When the wave dissipated, the alien was gone.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, Tara caught up with Kreavon and Brian as they got on. As Brian helped her on, Kreavon turned towards Genesis. "We're on; get us the Hell out of here!"

Genesis chose not to reply, choosing instead to accelerate the dropship away from the Fortress. The Forerunner constructed building seemed to be unable to withstand the waves of energy, as it began tearing apart. The entire Pelican shook as a second wave filled the cave. Genesis was sweating; it was taking all his energy just to keep the Pelican from veering off course and into a side of the cave. The Energy seemed to be attempting to accelerate the Pelican.

Tara glanced back just in time to see a massive wave of energy erupt from the fortress. "Holy…" was all Kreavon could say, Brian turned towards Genesis. "Genesis, get us out of here now!"

The Pelican zoomed forward, trying to reach the tunnels before the energy wave. It was only a few hundred meters. _Only three hundred meters, _Tara thought, _two hundred, one hundred and_… the rest of her though was forgotten as the wave of energy washed over the Pelican and everything went black.

* * *

Unknown Planet.

Xeraz 'Derumee shook his head as he recovered from the strange energy. He was somewhere amongst a large pile of rubble. He was unsure where he was. A sudden bolt of pain coursed through his body, reminding him of the damage the demon had done to him. He cursed the female demon and swore that until his dying breath he would hunt it down and slay it, even if it cost him is life.

That thought was still running through the Sangheili's head when a several ton dropship slammed into him at accelerated speeds, shattering every bone in his body simultaneously and ending his quest before it even began.

The first thing Tara was aware of was that she had hit something hard. The second thing was the realization that she was still alive. As she glanced to the side, she saw Kreavon stumble up from the floor of the pelican, shaking his head in an attempt to clear the disorientation. Brian pulled himself up from the ground. Glancing at his broken machine gun in disgust, he turned towards the cockpit, "Genesis, where are we?"

Silence was all that answered him. Turning towards the cockpit, Brian prepared to restate the question, and stopped. The front portion of the pelican had been ripped away. Including the cockpit. Brian just stood there as he took the sight in. Kreavon staggered forward. As he walked through the opening he looked at the mounds of rubble and polluted sky. He just stood there as Brian rushed through the opening. "Genesis?" He called, "Genesis where are you? Genesis!" he hollered.

Kreavon just stood there, his Gnasher hanging loosely in his grip. "No…" he whispered. "Damn it, not you too Genesis…" he trailed off.

Tara was numb. She had lost so much in the past months that she barely felt anything anymore. She had barely accepted the losses from Noble Team. This loss was too soon. She closed her eyes as Brian continued to calling in vain for his comrade. None of them saw the white armored soldiers coming to examine the anomaly that had appeared on their radar.

* * *

**Planet: Reach: Unknown time.**

Genesis felt himself cough up blood. After the flash of light, all he had felt was the Pelican slamming into the roof of the cave. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that he had stumbled out of his seat and stepped right through where the troop bay should have been. It had all been vaporized by the energy: that was the only conclusion. His eyes stung from the loss of Kreavon and Brian, and even Tara. He ripped off his helmet, ignoring the cold air of the cave. His bright eyes searched the crater in vain, before he collapsed on the ground, coughing up some more blood.

Footsteps echoed throughout the cave and a filtered voice came from above his head, "'even if the morrow is barren of promises…'" the voice trailed off as the figure looked down at Genesis, "guess this morrow is pretty barren eh?"

The voice was familiar to Genesis, but he could not place the name at first. A robotic hand grabbed him and pushed him up against the remaining of the hull of the Pelican, "But don't cry little brother, our brothers are still alive, and the girl is as well."

The figure's left hand came up and almost stroked Genesis's hair, turning his head so that his eyes left the prosthetic arm and came to look straight into the black visor of the crimson armor, "And you're going to help me find them little brother, so we can have our reunion." Genesis felt a chill run up his spine as he recognized the speaker, the deranged Spartan that had been their squadmate. Genesis could not see through the black visor, but he was sure the twisted grin was still there, "And it will be a grand reunion. But rest for now, tomorrow we begin the journey"

As a twisted laugh escaped the helmeted figure, Genesis finally began to lose the fight. The black visor grew until it swallowed up everything, and Genesis slipped into the nothing.

* * *

_A/N: Again sorry about taking so long to update, I promise I haven't given up on this story. There is alot planned out for it, so I won't be giving up. I will do my best to update again asap, but until then... Reviews are always nice. _

_Until next time  
_

_~Jangotat2  
_


	7. Chapter 6: A Change in Variables

**A/N**_Happy Halloween Enjoy_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Star Wars, or any other pieces of fiction and video games I may reference.  
_

* * *

Unknown planet 13:00 Coruscant time, 0:500 REACH time.

Brian stood there, listening to his voice echo off the mounds of rubble. He felt Kreavon place a hand on his shoulder. The message was unspoken. Brian looked up from the ground as twelve human like figures advanced towards them, rifle like devices leveled in their direction. A tall two legged vehicle followed these soldiers, its driver exposed in the air.

As one of the soldiers, looking like the leader of the group, advanced, his rifle held warily on standby. "By order of the Galactic Empire, you three are to be brought in for questioning."

Brian could feel Kreavon tense up behind him. A quick glance showed that Tara was on standby, ready to fight. But he could see the loss of Genesis in addition to her previous losses weighed on her. She was in no condition for first contact with this 'Galactic Empire'. Kreavon was still upset from the loss of Genesis, and his emotions tended to get the better of him in most situations. This meant it was up to him to be the speaker and representative, as normal. "What cause is there for this?"

"You have been found near the source of an anomaly, we must question you to see if you saw anything." The leader replied. Brian could sense there was more. Three soldiers, in unidentified armor, in close proximity to an unusual event and well armored. They weren't going to have a choice.

"My team and I come from a power known as the United Nations." He left off the space command, as they didn't need to give away any details. "As such we do not fall under your jurisdiction. We will provide you with any details you need, after we have had a chance to leave and make a report to our superiors."

It was a thin line between a lie and a truth. He didn't trust anything not UNSC, that included this 'Galactic Empire', but he didn't want to start another war. One that was three against an unknown amount. "I'm afraid that's not an option sir."

Brian sighed. A part of his training echoed in his mind. The part that told him that he would resist capture in any means necessary. "We can't let you take us with you, as dictated by our code."

"You don't have a choice, fire stun rounds." Even as the leader finished saying this, Brian pulled off his gauss cannon and neutralized the walker, which he estimated as the largest threat. The hyper-accelerated shell tore through the weakly armored scout vehicle with ease. Tara pulled out her magnums and began peppering the white armored soldiers of the Empire. The bullets were primarily absorbed by the armor, but several shells found their way though the weaker segments of the three soldiers closest to Tara. The leader and his soldiers began firing their rifles.

The shots seemed to be made from energy similar to the Covenant's plasma. The stun rounds were merely absorbed by the energy shields surrounding the Spartans. Kreavon vaulted over a pile of rubble with a war cry, and fired his shotgun. The Gnasher's powerful shells breached even the Imperial's armor with ease. Three shots and there were three more troops on the ground. Brian pulled out his assault rifle one handed, and began firing bursts into the formation of white, letting his powerful shields disperse the stun bolts. Somewhere along the line, a soldier decided to start firing to kill, as Brian noticed his shields flare from a slightly more potent bolt. The soldier received a Kukri to the throat from Tara.

Kreavon was in the heart of the remaining Imperials, his knife flashing and Gnasher firing. As Kreavon's gauntlet blade stabbed through the collar of another Imperial, Brian charged the leader. Slamming into him with slightly less than full speed, pinned him to the hull of a destroyed vehicle of some kind and leveled the barrel of his assault rifle with the man's stomach. Tara finished off the last remaining hostile with a point blank shot through the visor.

Brian turned his helmeted head back towards the soldier. Over the internal communicator he told Kreavon: "remove his helmet, I want to look him in the eye."

Brian could see a slight pause from Tara, before she resumed checking the downed soldier for pulses. None of them reacted to her checking. Kreavon came over and not so gently removed the helmet from the leader's head. The man looked young. A long time ago that would have bothered Brian, now however he was used to seeing the young pressed to serve. "I have a few questions, and you're going to answer them."

The soldier tried to look confident, but fear was reflected in his eyes. His tone took on a level of bravado , "Or what?"

Brian intentionally moved his helmet so the gold visor was looking at his assault rifle. Pressing the barrel harder into the soldier's chest, he brought his head back up. His voice dropped in volume and temperature "You see the man in grey and red armor behind me? We both just lost someone very important to us, so he's just looking for something to kill, other than your men. Don't make me have to let him do the interrogation."

The man visibly began to pale. Then something flashed across his eyes and his confidence returned. "It doesn't matter. I signaled for reinforcements the instant you opened fire. Several platoons of soldiers and vehicles will be here. We'll see how strong you are when the tides are reversed."

Brian searched the man's face for any hint of deception. Seeing only optimistic confidence, Brian headbutted the soldier hard enough to knock him out. Tossing the unconscious body to Tara, he shouted loud enough for Kreavon to hear, "We're going to have company."

The three Spartans hurried to the remains of the Pelican. While Tara secured the unconscious soldier, Brian grabbed more ammunition for both his gauss cannon and assault rifle. Kreavon followed suit, grabbing some ammunition for his assault rifle. Brian also noticed he grabbed every pack of his Gnasher's ammunition he could find. Tara grabbed a sniper, remembering her mission with Jun. As the three Spartans prepared for combat, dozens of Imperial Stormtroopers marched through the rubble and contaminated ground of Ord Mantell towards their position. Behind them came near a dozen All-Terrain Recon Transports, with several All-Terrain Scout Transports behind them.

* * *

In Orbit above Ord Mantell, 13:15 Coruscant Time.

Ryan stood next to his brother on board the bridge of the _Stalker_. The Massive Trade Federation Battleship would be easily noticed, if the Imperials were actively looking for it. However the jamming equipment that the twins had installed on the ship easily hid it from their radar. The presence of a pair of Imperial Star Destroyers had made them both uneasy.

"Sir," one of the crewman called, attempting to get the brothers' attention, "You might want to listen to this."

The crewman began relaying an intercepted Imperial Transmission: "_This is 2__nd__ battalion, Hotel company, 2__nd__ platoon. We have engaged the unknown forces. Three tall humanoids, heavily armored. They have energy shields of some kind. They are using projectile weapons. We have them outnumbered. Golf, India, and Juliet companies are engaging as well. They have set up a killzone and we are unable to advance without greater casualties. Recommend an airstrike to try an neutralize at least one of these targets, preferably the sniper. We should be able to handle the remaining two."_

Ryan looked at Hunter, a gleam coming to his eye, "Looks like the Imperials have found some new playmates. Let's help them out."

Hunter nodded, "Your choice on how to do this _Vode_."

Ryan nodded, and moved to the center of the bridge. "Deploy second squadron of the Tri-Fighter group. Instruct them to engage any TIE Fighters in the proximity of that transmission. Ensure that they direct concussion rockets at any walkers. Prepare 3rd battalion for deployment. Hunter, go with them to make first contact with these armored individuals."

Hunter nodded, "All this for three people eh?"

Ryan smirked, "If the Empire is willing to send the majority of a battalion after them, they have to be dangerous. If they're dangerous, I want them on our side. Prepare the other squadrons of our Tri-Fighter group. Also prepare 1st squadron of mission support group. Bring all our cannons online, this might get the Empire interested in us. Give me a direct link to Captain Ireon."

A hologram of the human appeared, "Commander. I assume you're here for more than a report."

Ryan nodded, "We're pulling out of here; get all non-essential personal of this trash heap. If anyone wants to stay to maintain connections." He paused, "tell them they are only to stay if they go under cover. For all official purposes we're leaving."

"Roger." Ireon began to issue the orders, pausing he looked back at Ryan, "Something big is going on I take it."

"I'll brief you when you arrive." Ryan replied.

"Got it, I'll get us evacuated. Good thing that anomaly appeared when it did, the Empire's too focused on that to continue looking for our base. Ireon over and out."

As the hologram vanished, Ryan turned his attention back to the holographic board that showed him the layout of the battlefields. One of the Star Destroyers had detected the Tri-Fighter Squadron, and was deploying its own TIE fighters to intercept. Ryan shook his head, _Now that just won't do_. "Deploy first and third squadrons of Tri-Fighter group to engage these incoming TIE fighters. Direct second squadron to continue its heading. Prepare 1st squadron of V-wing group for take off and engagement. Deploy the first wing of Vulture droids to reinforce first and third squadrons."

As the orders were carried out, and the droid fighters mobilized, Ryan couldn't help but hope this worked. Seeing the nearest Star Destroyer advance in their direction, Ryan ordered the _Stalker _to power up its shields and for the mission support group to standby to make combat repairs. _Let's see how good the commander of this Imperial task force is_ he thought smugly.

* * *

Ord Mantell.

Tara cursed as she dodged another blaster bolt. The weapons these imperials used were far more potent than the Covenant's plasma weaponry. This made avoiding the shots even more important than usual. Cover was the name of the game here. They were outnumbered, and possibly outgunned. The only reason they were holding was because of the massive piles of rubble on either side that prevented the Empire from using flanking movements. The line of bodies at the bottom of the hill was testament to the stalemate they were now in. Kreavon hurled a plasma grenade over a low lying wall and gave a shout of satisfaction as the pulsing grenade stuck to a white soldier and engulfed him and his allies in a bright explosion. A distant whine began echoing throughout the area.

She heard Kreavon curse and followed his gaze. There were three odd 'H' shaped aerial vehicles approaching. "Guess they got tired of doing this the old way."

The center of the odd aircraft had two cylindrical centers as opposed to the single circle center of its flanking cohorts. A second sonic boom echoed across the area as different odd aircraft surged into the atmosphere. Three arm-like pieces of metal covered a spherical center. One thing Tara noticed immediately was that there were more of these spacecraft than the others. The new fighters opened fire and tore apart the 'H' shaped fighters with ease.

"What the Hell?" Kreavon asked

"Guess not everyone likes the Empire" Brian hollered back.

A larger two legged walker began to come into view. Twin cannons fired, devastating a former cover of Kreavon's. One of the space craft adjusted course and fired a volley of rockets into the walker, destroying it and killing the nearby Imperial troops. "Woo-hoo!" Kreavon shouted, "We got allies now, these fools are going down!"

Tara couldn't help but wonder how long these allies would stay allies, but she'd accept any help they could get. More of the 'H' shaped fighters flew in, firing their own laser cannons at the other fighters. As multiple dogfights broke out in the sky, Tara kept her attention to putting sniper rounds through the troopers' vulnerable neck slot. As her rifle fired and the powerful round tore through another soldier's neck, Brian took the time to reload and assess the situation.

The odds were long, but that was nothing new to him or the other Spartans. The arrival of the unknown spacecraft was helping keep the fight balanced. Without air support the fight would continue on as it had before. And it was a fight he was confident the three of them could win.

* * *

In descent to Ord Mantell.

Hunter felt the familiar rush of adrenaline course through his body. It was always like this before a battle. Ryan might feel more comfortable commanding the troops, and it fit him well, but Hunter loved the thrill of the battle. It was a razor's edge that he walked, between finding himself in battle, and losing himself in it. But it was what gave him life. Briefly he checked over his modified DC-17 that Kull had helped him make. The bayonet attached to the end had proven useful in close quarters combat before, and he had no doubt it might help now. Around him stood other members of the Crusaders, human and alien, organic and repurposed droids. A pair of Dwarf Spider droids and a single Advanced Dwarf Spider droid sat in the center of the transport ship. Hunter peeked through a nearby viewport just in time to see a pair of All-Terrain Anti-Air walkers open fire on the Trade Federation Dropships the Crusaders had repurposed. A grin of pure adrenaline crossed his lips as the troopship shook. Turning back around he viewed his men.

"When we get out there, shoot anything in white armor. Be sure to not open fire on the guys we're going to rescue, that might turn awkward really quickly." Hunter began, "This will be an in and out mission. We blow the Imps away, and give a diversion for our brothers-in-arms to get off this planet. Let's get this done, and get back safely."

Hunter had never been one for speeches, so these few words were all he decided to provide his men. They were not the best, but he knew they were enough to get the men of this dropship ready to fight. Checking his blaster again, everything started fading away. There was another reason he left the commanding to Ryan. When he got into the fighting, he lost all focus on everything else. It was difficult to refrain from entering this battle lust when he had engaged Tarz in space, however here on the ground he knew there was no avoiding it. The doors to the large dropship opened, giving Hunter a view of the polluted sky. Rushing out with a low war cry, Hunter and his men charged towards the battle. A few minutes later and they could see the white armor of the Imperials.

As soon as the soldiers halted, they began firing upon the mass of enemies. Both sides began diving for cover as the battle escalated. The two weaker spider droids focused their attention on the AT-RTs, blowing them apart swiftly. The advanced dwarf spider droid focused its fire and rockets on the AT-AA. A jamming field activated and caused the rockets to fly in random directions away from the four legged walker, however they still successfully slammed into nearby stormtroopers and their cover. Throughout the chaos, Hunter's mind had calmed. Now he was merely focused on one thing, destroying his enemies. Sighting another stormtrooper with his rifle, he fired a few quick bursts, watching in savage satisfaction as they extinguished the life of the Imperial. He moved from a pile of rubble to rocky outcropping and then to a different pile of rubble. Each time he shifted cover, he ensured he eliminated at least one Imperial, preferably more. The battle was shifting in the favor of the Crusaders, who had used the element of surprise and caught the Imperials in the midst of transitioning to face the new threat. The advanced dwarf spider droid fired a final laser blast into the AT-AA, destroying it.

Hunter saw the commanding officer of the remaining imperials. He was directing some of his men to different positions as they tried to find a way to turn the tide. Smirking coldly to himself, Hunter used another trick he kept in reserve, his stealth generator. Although the technology had never been perfected for mass production, he had used different schematics of stealth devices over the past millennia to create the one he kept for himself now. Silently he moved behind the Imperials line. The soldiers, though well trained, were not used to searching for that which they could not see, especially when under fire from a far more tangible threat. Once Hunter was in position, he sent a signal back to the massive troop transport. The final part of this assault was initiated as a tank with a small center and massive wheels rolled out of the troop transport. The hailfire droid fired its barrage of missiles, which surged over the obstacles and slammed into the Imperials' ravaged line. With explosions surrounding the area, Hunter charged, readying his bayonet.

The officer shielded his face from the explosions, even as more missiles pounded the area. He uncovered his face only to be met with a bayonet ramming into his stomach. The shock in his eyes shone bright. As he felt his blood start seeping out of the wound, he gazed past his killer, and saw all of his men; their bodies littering the battlefield. A few had survived the artillery strike, and were trying to hold off the enemy, loyal to the end. The closest soldier to him was slammed by a heavy laser shot from the remaining dwarf spider droid. The familiar whine of a Tri-fighter echoed in his ears as an Airstrike tore apart his remaining men. _They were all so young_, he thought, _not like I. They weren't breed for this_. The clone's eyes focused on his killers, and saw an expression almost feral in nature. Breathing what could be his last breath; his mind flew back over his short life. _Did we really change anything at all?_ Was the last thought the officer had before his life slipped away.

Hunter let the dead body slip off of his bayonet, surveying the damage done. This had been the reinforcement base for the Imperials, and now they had been neutralized by a blitz from multiple directions. Looking down at the dead clone, Hunter shook his head; feeling the adrenaline fade away. It scared him sometimes how much he fell into a battle lust, but he knew it helped him win; which was what they needed for this war. Closing the deceased clone officer's eyes, he turned towards the soldiers as they gathered around him. "Alright men, homestretch now. Let's go save these mysterious strangers."

* * *

As he leaned back behind cover to reload his gun, Brian stole a glance at the air battle. The fighters that seemed to be assisting them were winning for the most part, although both sides were suffering losses. Strange 'H' shaped ships had descended from space as well and since then the amount of Imperials had begun tapering off. He wasn't quite sure what these people's obsession with 'H' shaped air and spacecraft stemmed from, but he was in no mood to ask. Aiming around the metal dish he had been using as cover, Brian began to unleash another stream of bullets from his position. It was then that a new sight greeted him. From behind the Imperial lines, a wave of new soldiers had arrived. Whereas the Imperials had uniformity with their white, almost sterile, armor, these soldiers seemed to be from a variety of species and have as great of a variety of armor. Brian could tell that they were well trained just by observing the way they fought. But the sight of aliens caused part of him to tense up.

Forgoing old instincts in the hopes of achieving new allies, Brian kept his attention focused on the stormtroopers. Kreavon's mouth however would not remain shut for long, "Yo boss, what do we do about these new humans and their alien buddies?"

Brian internally sighed, "Focus on those who attacked us first, then we'll deal with this new force if we need to."

A flash of light on the bottom of his Heads up Display informed him that Tara heard his message. Kreavon did not chose to reply, opting to show his understanding by firing another volley of his assault rifle rounds into the decreasing mass of Stormtroopers. The reinforcing soldiers opened fire on the imperials and attacked. Some segments pushed forwards, others flanked, and still other remained at their positions and used long range weaponry to tear into the Imperials.

Brian saw four legged vehicle like creatures. The large cannons on their center fired large bolts of energy that blew away pairs of soldiers at a time. There were a few more armored versions of these spider robots; they fired heave bolts of energy as well as rockets. A pair of what seemed to be a pair of giant wheels attached to two massive racks of missiles rolled up behind the new soldiers' line. All the missiles fired from the two vehicles, creating a devastating barrage of an artillery strike. Explosions shook the ground and ravaged the remaining Imperials. In a matter of minutes the battle had gone from what seemed to be a desperate last stand by the Spartans to the Imperials being pinned between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. A few Imperials tried to charge Kreavon, hoping to secure the Spartan's position against their enemies. Kreavon replied with an unloading of his Gnasher.

Tara fired another sniper round through what looked like a commander of the Imperials. A man ran in front of the new forces and gave a war cry. The unidentified army echoed the war cry and followed his charge towards the last line of the Imperials. Discipline amongst some of these Imperials vanished in seconds, as they broke ranks in an attempt to escape. Those remaining in line began to fire. By now there were only three ranks of Imperials left, as opposed to the seemingly endless supply there had been at the beginning of the fight. The man leading them flowed from cover to cover with a grace matched only by other Spartans that Brian had seen. He fired a pair of blasts into a higher ranking Imperial's kneecaps, forcing the soldier to fall on the ground. Brian held up his hand, informing Kreavon and Tara to hold their fire.

The two Spartans walked up on either side of him as they watched the finale of the battle. The front line of the unidentified soldiers had bayonets attached to their weapons or had drawn sword like objects. They literally cut through the remaining Imperials, as the man Brian had seen earlier walked up to the wounded leader. The man cut the soldier's throat with his bayonet. The solemn silence that followed the aftermath of a battle filled the area. In the distance weapons were heard discharging. The man who had led the charge walked towards the Spartans.

Brian was hesitant to trust these newcomers, but also had no desire to start any new conflicts. Based on these two desires he kept his assault rifle level with the man's chest, but aimed away from him. A few seconds of tense silence passed as Brian observed the other man. He was about average height for a human. He had brown hair that almost reached to the edge of his ears. Although he did not seem to have the build of a dangerous warrior, Brian knew better than to underestimate him.

"Well if it isn't the three mystery people that got the Empire worked up." The man spoke with a light hearted tone, but a trace of seriousness resounded in his voice. He shook his head slowly, "I have to say you three put a good show, stalling an entire Imperial battalion for as long as you did. So who are you people?"

Brian let the question sink into him. He had to select his words delicately. The best solution was the one he used for interrogations. "Chief Petty Officer Brian, Spartan-333 United Nations Space Command."

A flicker of understanding revealed that the man knew standard military tactics when revealing information. This flicker was clouded over by confusion and curiosity. "UNSC you say?" He repeated, "Never heard of them. Not in this sector, or any other part of the known galaxy. Seeing as the unknown regions are quite a few systems away from here, I'd say you're pretty far from home Chief Petty Officer. At least I'd assume you are, because if this 'UNSC' you mentioned does exist, it's probably off in the depths of the unknown regions."

Brian weighed what the man had just revealed. If he was speaking the truth, and Brian was inclined to believe him based on this past battle, then the Empire and whatever group this man was part of both had space faring capabilities. However their controlled area was either so large or their technology was inefficient enough that this 'unknown regions' was a distance away. And if Earth and the UNSC and the Covenant were in the 'unknown regions', then it would be very difficult to reach. Meaning that without assistance, the three of them would be stuck on this planet with no way to discover the route home. Kreavon replied over their closed channel, "You think he's serious here? Cause if what he's saying is right…"

"I know." Brian replied. Activating his helmet speakers, he directed the next question to the man, "Who are you? And why did you help us?"

"Well I'll introduce myself since you did the same favor for me. I am Hunter Mendez, one of the leaders of the Crusaders" He stated simply. Brian couldn't help but make a connection from this man's last name. Hunter gave a little shrug as he began his next reply "And as for why we helped you. Well you got the Imperials attention, which allowed us to get some good soldiers off of this planet. And anyone who is fighting the Empire deserves some help from us, the way I see it. We might actually be able to help you out a bit more. We could use a team with skill sets like yours. In exchange for helping us with our little feud against the Empire, we'll try to figure out where your home is and find a way to get you back. Because I think your ship over there is missing the key component to navigating anywhere."

Kreavon visibly tensed for second upon the reminder. Brian made his call before the other could get volatile. "Give me and my comrades a moment to confer over it."

"Naturally" Hunter replied.

The three Spartans took a few steps back from Hunter and leaned in. Kreavon was the first to speak. "I don't like it, we don't know who they are really, we don't know much about their agenda, we pretty much only know that they call themselves crusaders. We shouldn't trust them. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. Remember those big creatures on Reach? They smashed the covies good, but they also wanted to smash anything else they saw. Also the crusades back on Earth were pretty brutal, if they're anything like that. Well it could be bad for us to get entangled with them."

Tara shrugged, "However the Empire opened fire once we refused to go in for questioning, these people actually stood down."

"Would they remain that way if we rejected them as well?" Kreavon shot back.

"If we don't trust anyone we're stuck on this trash heap of a planet until who knows when." Tara replied calmly.

Kreavon emitted a slight sigh. "But if we're wrong, we'll be in the middle of their spaceship or whatever."

A smirk came across Tara's lips, "What's the matter Kreavon, don't think you could fight your way off the ship with your shotgun?"

"Hey now!" The Spartan replied indignant, "I could easily do that. But I think we should hear what the big man thinks."

Brian processed what they had both said. Whatever decision he made would change their lives for however long they were stuck away from the UNSC. The Empire had proven to be aggressive; however he was not sure if they were to fault. The UNSC had taken a harsh stance against rebellion and insurrection before. On the other hand these Crusaders seemed to be more willing to help those they saw in need. Brian also wanted to help them because of their assistance. Quid pro quo. You scratch my back I scratch yours. He also had no idea what kind of conflict these Crusaders and the Imperials were involved in, or if it involved any other factions. Kreavon had a point as well. Just because they were enemies of their current enemies meant nothing for the future. He was also unsure of how the UNSC would view whatever decision he made. If he denied the Crusaders and ended up needing the Empire for help, and they decided to take Earth under their control. He stopped there; the Crusaders could easily do the same. Cursing mentally he re-weighed the option. Then he finally reached his decision.

"You have a deal."

* * *

**Reach**

_It was just after training. They had been sent back to the barracks. Everything burnt, his legs, his shins, his arms all burnt from the exertion. As he leaned heavily against a wall, he saw another kid walk up to him. She was almost as tall as him, almost he thought with a rueful smirk. _

"_Hello" she said, "I'm Lynne. Who are you?"_

_He looked up, allowing his blue eyes to make contact with her brown ones. "I'm Genesis."_

"_Genesis," she sounded his name out, "That's an odd name."_

"_Is not." He replied, "My father gave me that name… well my second father."_

"_How did you have a second father?" Lynne asked naively. _

"_My mom and my first dad were killed by some stupid insurrectionists when I was really young. Around two." He replied bitterly, "But my father found me helped me out. He called me 'Genesis', saying I was the start of something new in his life."_

"_Do you miss him?" She asked. Her questions were beginning to annoy him, but he knew questions about parents were commonplace amongst the kids. They all missed them, most of them knew their parents would never see them again. _

"_Yes. But differently than others." Genesis replied, "He died."_

"_Oh." She replied. "Do you remember much?"_

_Genesis nodded gravely. "I have perfect memory. Everything I did I remember. I always will remember everything."_

Genesis's eyes opened with a start as he coughed up some more blood. His body was in more pain than it had been on that day that he had met Lynne. But this was the bad kind of pain. Groaning from his torment, Genesis rolled onto his back. The sight that greeted him was a tall alien with an energy dagger ready to plunge it into his heart. Adrenaline started to course through his body, but before he could even move, a sniper round tore through the alien's head.

The killer walked forward, reattaching the sniper rifle to his back. He had six extra sniper rounds on his shoulders, several shotgun shells were on his left forearm. His right arm was completely prosthetic. Shock coursed through Genesis's system as he saw the man again. "Welcome back to the land of the living brother." The other Spartan said.

Genesis stumbled, looking for words. "You're…you're dead."

"That's what we like to think isn't it?" The Spartan replied bitterly. "Oh let's leave him to get killed in a desperate stand against the Covenant. He's too damaged to do anything else. Unfortunately for everyone, I'm still here and alive. Sorry I was too determined to get killed back on Jericho VII. Bet everyone would love to know how I survived. But that's the thing, no one knows I'm even alive! Except you little brother. And soon the whole galaxy will know that the Nightmare is back." The Spartan trailed off with psychotic laughter.

Genesis stayed crouched, trying to gather the energy to stand. Before he could, he was forced down by the other Spartan's metal hand. "Relax for now brother; I'm going to need your help to discover how that foolish girl did what she did. Then we can replicate it, and we can have our reunion. Oh how the galaxy will tremble before the perfect killers. It will be marvelous."

As laughter filled the chamber again, Genesis could only wonder why things had gone so wrong. But he knew one thing, with his perfect memory; he could remember how.

* * *

**A/N **_Well here's my little Halloween treat to anyone who's reading. Yes I managed to get another chapter done in this short of a time. However I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors I may have made. I know I make a decent amount of those anyway, but if there are a few more this time, again I apologize. A couple of notes:  
1 I meant for Genesis's eyes to be blue, not green like stated when he was first introduced.  
2 We will be getting back to our boys in the Empire and friends in the Rebels soon enough, don't worry. _

_Again, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and reviews are always nice. Until next time (whenever that may be)  
Peace and Safety Be with you  
~Jangotat2  
_

_(1/26/2013) I have begun re-writing the earlier chapters of this fanfic now. Chapter 1 has been rewritten. The overall plot arcs haven't changed in that yet, however there will be changes in those rewritten chapters. I'd highly recommend rereading them as I update them. after this chapter I'm going to try and add a later chapter for every chapter I rewrite. I'll probably end up changing the little things I messed up on during this process (such as Genesis having green eyes instead of the blue eyes he was supposed to have and dealing with the Z-95 not having hyperdrive)  
_

_Thank you all again for reading_

~Jangotat2  



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